Thank You God
by Eirinte
Summary: When five boys are abruptly kidnapped and held for ransom, each teen must work together and provide support to cope with the cruel conditions they are forced to survive in. Shackled to walls in a small dirty basement, will their partnership be enough to help them stay sane throughout the horrors they are made to endure? WARNING: Rating may go up. Teen AU.
1. Separated

Arnold patiently waited outside the restaurant. He put his hands in his pockets to shield them from the cool breeze, and he kicked at his feet to pass the time. Every so often glancing left to right down the sidewalk. He saw Connor approaching, and waved him over. Connor, with a skip in his step and now a smile, hurried closer.

Connor also had his hands in his blue, wind coat pockets, looking a little unused to the temperature. His auburn hair being blown slightly in the wind.

"Hello!" He said cheerily as he stood next to Arnold.

"Hey man."

"You have the time?" Arnold shrugged his shoulders. Connor took his hand out of his pocket, and rolled up his sleeve.

"6:02.." He said to himself. "The others should be arriving soon!" He stuck his hand back in his pocket. Arnold glanced around Connor to check the sidewalk behind him.

"How long have you been waiting?" Connor asked. Arnold shrugged again.

The group had decided to go out to this new Greek restaurant. In a fun conversation they had the other day, the topic of food came about in history class. Thomas had never tried Greek food, so the group decided to take him out. It wasn't rare for them to get together like this, the church would host little outings every so often. Plus, with a few of them working part time it wasn't hard to pool together the money.

"Something like 5 minutes, my mom dropped me off a little early to get here, she had an appointment at the bank or something." Connor gave a small noise of acknowledgement, and let out a huff.

"Mhm, little cold out here eh? Should we wait inside?" He proposed.

Arnold glanced inside, then around past Connor and behind him. "..No, just incase they can't find us when we are inside. Might as well all find a table together!" They heard a shout behind them.

"Hey guys!" It was Poptarts. His small body jogged up to them, a sweet smile on his face, bobbed hair still remaining the same as always.

"Hey Poptarts!"

"Hey Thomas."

Connor side eyed Arnold because of the nickname, but he didn't notice.

Once up to them, Poptarts glanced inside the restaurant.

"Greek! This will be fun. Are the others inside?" He asked.

Connor gave a quick look around. "Nope, just us right now." He said cheerily, drawing out the vowel in just. "Still waiting on Kev and Stephen."

Thomas nodded in understanding, and motioned inside with his arm.

"Should we go ahead and claim a table?" The smell from the restaurant making him inhale. He, of course, has never had Greek food before.

"Meh." Connor said haphazardly, shrugging. "Everyone's all arriving now, might as well keep waiting."

"Then it will be even more of a relief when we enter the warm restaurant…" Arnold trailed off looking inside. The other guys laughed, falling into a slightly uncomfortable silence. Thomas let out a small sigh, slouching down slightly in his standing up position, letting his thoughts wander. Connor on the other hand was shivering and looking out for their two remaining friends who had yet to arrive, not minding the silence despite his talkative nature. He turned his blue eyed gaze over to Thomas, noticing his tense posture. The redhead furrowed his brows slightly at the expression on his friends' face, his mind seemed occupied. Connor reached out slightly to rest a hand on Thomas' shoulder, but of course...

"So…" Arnold began… Connor and Poptarts looked up.

"Hm?" The redhead hummed, eyebrows up listening. On the other hand, Thomas spun around on his heels paying Arnold little mind, but keeping a tentative ear, already assuming where the conversation will go.

Thomas, or Poptarts as they call him seemed anxious, Connor took note of. Maybe he was just cold, anyhow it was sort of unusual for the awkward, quirky boy he knew him to be. His thoughts were once again cut off by Arnold.

"Did you watch the new Game of Thrones episode?" Said boy shouted, but was shushed quickly by Connor. "Did you see the new episode?" He repeated in a whisper, anxious for an answer. "I haven't had the chance to talk to you about it this week? You are still watching it, right Connor?"

Said boy prayed that Kevin or Stephen would show up soon, especially the former was way more equipped for giddy Arnold.

"Oh, yeah, yeah I have..."

"Well..?" Arnold said expectedly, a smirk on his face as he leaned a shoulder over to bump Connor.

"Well?" Connor repeated..."There's Kevin!" He saw the dark haired friend approaching, and thanked God for his timing. Connor could never keep up with Arnold's vast knowledge of this fantasy world. He talked about to amuse himself, not in actual inquiry of the person he was asking. Letting go of those thoughts, he greeted Kevin with a large smile.

"Hey guys, sorry if I kept you waiting. Are we heading inside?" Kevin asked, glancing through the doorway into the orangey lit restaurant behind all of the others. Typical Kevin, rushing to get things done.

"Kevin! Perfect timing, I was just asking Connor if he saw the new episode-" Arnold began.

"Nope, waiting for Stephen." Connor ignored the other and answered Kevin. Kevin gave a light laugh, his dark gelled hair bouncing slightly on his head.

"Surely he can meet us inside, the majority of us are here already." He began to make his way towards the restaurant entrance, and held the glass door open for the rest of them, smiling. Connor sighed at that, leaning back his weight to one foot, then noticed everyone had turned their gaze to him.

"What?" Connor asked. Everyone looked at him expectedly. He emitted a long breath, and stood up, smoothing out his coat and glancing to Kevin.

"Alright, let's go in. You're too impatient Kevin!" Connor huffed and began to walk through into the building. He pushed by Kevin who held open the door without making eye contact, Kevin laughed quietly.

As they walked inside, the boys were greeted by the various aromas or different spices, sauces and dishes. Arnold especially had a huge mood change, the food going to his head, now anxious to eat. The greens, oranges and browns of the restaurant blended together in unity giving the whole place a Mediterranean feel. Beads, and ocean side paintings adorned the walls, and people occupied the many tables throughout the place. A young, brown haired waitress approached them with a large smile, Connor greeted her.

"Hello boys, are you all a group?" She politely asked, her voice slightly pitchy but nonetheless welcoming. The notebook in her arm tucked to her right breast, she waited for a reply.

"Yep. We are five, another person is meeting us here shortly." Connor spoke back, turning around to glance outside incase Stephen was outside, but no. He directed his gaze back to the woman. "If you see a guy….around our age with tacky styled blonde hair standing awkwardly, it's probably him" Connor quickly said with a smile, and the waitress gave a short laugh.

"Let me show you your table men!" She grinned, then spun around to lead them to their table. "My name is Sarah, I'll be your waitress for the night! " Behind her, Arnold stood on his toes and whispered in Kevin's ear, the latter bending down slightly.

"Sounded like Connor just described himself," Arnold attempted to whisper, but due to his loud nature it was fairly audible. Kevin let out a huff laugh, and Connor turned slightly.

"Ohh shut up.." He told them. They laughed a little more, Poptarts joining in on the jest. Connor huffed and turned around, flipping his hair. "And my hairs' not blonde..." he whispered to himself, letting the joke settle and followed the waitress.

After maybe 15 seconds she had led them up a few steps, and into the far left corner of the restaurant next to the front window. Connor took a seat, and thanked the waitress who said she would return shortly with menus. Arnold glanced outside.

"Still no Stephen.." Arnold said. "Oh well, maybe something happened. What time is it now?"

Connor rolled up his sleeve and glanced down to his watch. "6:08." He spoke. "He's not too late. If he's not here in the next ten minutes I'll send a text." All the other guys nodded in acknowledgement, removing their coats and settling into their seats.

"So.." Arnold began with a cheeky grin, and began settling in his seat. Sensing where the conversation would go, Connor butted in.

"Thomas are you excited?" He quickly asked, jolting said boys' head off of the table.

"Hmm?" He said, the question clicking in. "Oh, yeah! Greek food!" Thomas said, the other boys turning to him.

Arnold leaned forward on to the table. "That's right, you haven't had it before!"

"That's the whole reason we are here, Arn."

"Oh, yeah. I forgot about that."

Thomas sighed with a smile and sat up to speak. "Any recs for food?"

All the other boys went straight into thought, brows furrowing and eyes going slightly unfocused. Thomas leaned back and laughed. "Wow, is it that tough?"

Connor's eyes went wide. "Yes!"

Thomas laughed again. "I'll just wait until we get the menus. Speaking of!" He gently motioned over to the brunette who returned to their table.

She spoke as she handed them out to everyone, "Menus!" Each boy gave a thanks.

"Can I start you off with any drinks?" She directed her gaze to Kevin first.

"Sparkling water for me please." He gave one of his signature smiles up at her, next she turned to his left at Arnold.

"Chocolate milkshake!" Arnold said happily. Then Thomas.

"Lemonade."

Connor smiled over at him, then to the waitress who was patiently waiting. "Orange juice please!" He asked. The waitress nodded, jotting down the last request then turning back to the table."Great, I'll return shortly." She took her leave. Kevin let out a laugh, and turned to Connor.

"What?" Connor asked skeptically.

"Always the orange juice McKinley." He told him.

Connor scoffed, "Well, it's my favorite!" Kevin then shook his head with a smile, and turned down to open his menu. Connor and the others followed suit. After a few moments of silence as the group read through their dish options, Thomas spoke.

"I feel like we should have waited for Stephen."

This caused Kevin to glance up at him questioningly. "What is the problem?" He asked. Connor glanced up as well.

Thomas sighed, and slouched. "I don't know, guess I have a bad feeling." He paused for a second, then sat back in his seat, face returning to the menu.

"What do you mean?" Arnold piped in. Thomas shrugged.

"Maybe something with his parents, they fight a lot...right?"

Connor shook his head slightly. "I wouldn't worry too much about it Thomas." He said genuinely, "He's not too late, just give it a few more minutes." He reassured him, though Thomas didn't look thoroughly convinced, but enough for now. "Would waiting outside for him make a difference?"

"I don't know, I just…" He paused again. "I-ahh, nevermind."

Kevin gave him a questioning glance, but let the conversation drop. Instead, he let his eyes roam over the numerous dishes, attempting to make a decision.

"Everything looks so good!" Arnold exclaimed.

"Haven't you been here before?" Connor asked him with a laugh.

"Yeah."

Connor raised an eyebrow. "Then don't you know what you like?"

Arnold let out a large breath,"Well yeah, but there's still so much stuff to choose from!" Typical Arnold, Connor thought to himself. Kevin rolled his eyes, and Thomas smiled slightly.

"What are we all thinking of getting?" Connor asked to the group, looking anxiously to Thomas first, it being his first time trying this food. Said boy noticed this, and stuck his hands in the air.

"You guys first!" He said in surrender, Connor laughed at him, and turned to Kevin.

Turning his eyes down to the menu, Kevin said "I'll be having…" He used his finger to point at his dish, "Chicken Shawarma."

"Arnold?" Thomas asked.

"Beef gyros and a slice of Canadian Pizza."

"Haha..what?" Kevin laughed. Connor gawed.

"What?" Arnold repeated crudely.

"At a Greek restaurant, you order Canadian pizza?!" Connor blurted out, "Way to set an example!" He motioned towards Thomas who gave a short, cute burst of laughter. Arnold dismissed their judgements."It looked good, and I can eat whatever I want!" Despite his attempted confirmation, he sounded self conscience. Connor snorted at him, and turned back down to his menu.

After a few moments he mumbled to himself, "Can you even order in slices?" Thomas laughed.

"I will be having marinated chicken fillet.." Connor trailed off.

"Ooo, fancy!" Kevin mocked.

"Shut up." Connor snapped back. "Thomas?"

The small boy took a few more moments to read through the menu, and with bob of the head he stuck his finger down on one of the options.

"Beef shawarma!" He said with a shut of his menu. A sad look cast over his face, and he glanced outside.

"Sounds cool."

"We are all ready to order then!" Arnold said with a smile.

"Slow down Arnold, I think we should wait for Stephen." Connor said, Kevin made a sound of agreement and leaned back. "What time is it now?"

Connor rolled his eyes, "Why does everyone keep asking me?" He said as he rolled up his sleeve.

"Too lazy to take my phone out."

"Peh.." Connor made a sound of annoyance. "It's 6:18. Want me to send him a text?" He asked. The boys nodded.

After a few more minutes, the waitress came back with their drinks on a round tray. She politely asked if they were ready to order, but the boys asked for more time. She said she would return soon. They settled into a calm silence as they sipped at their drinks. Thomas fiddled with his napkin, folding and ripping off little pieces lost in thought. Arnold gulfed down his drink fairly quickly, and now was tapping annoyingly on the table, probably to some Star Wars song. On the other hand, Kevin was sitting back with his eyes closed, also lost in thought. He rested his crossed arms on his chest and was taking long, calming breaths. Abruptly, they heard a chair scoot back, and Kevin's eyes flew open.

"I think I saw Stephen outside! " Connor called out as he rose to his feet and scooted around the table, "I'll run out and tell him we're already here!"

"Ohh, okay." Kevin said out stiffly, twisting his spine to watch Connor go by in the direction behind him, Arnold doing the same. Thomas watched Connor exit, and glanced outside to where he said he saw Stephen.

With a furrow of the brow, Thomas squinted outside into the dim evening light, trying to avoid looking into the glare the inside lamps are casting on the glass.

"Hmm.."He said, "I don't see anyone.."

Kevin pushed forward on the table to glance around Arnold to look through the window. After a few moments he shrugged his shoulders and sat back once again, but not before fixing his gelled hair.

"Meh, let him check."

"Do you think he could have walked by it by accident?" Thomas proposed, still looking outside.

"Who cares!" Arnold whined, "I'm so hungry!"

Kevin gave him a questioning glance. "Dude," He laughed, "We've only been here like 15 minutes!"

"Yeah! And it's been an hour since I've eaten, and all the smells in here make my stomach growl.." He slunked down into his seat, then abruptly jumped back up again. "I'm gonna flag down the waitress for a refill. "

"You finished it already?"

"Duh."

Thomas yawned as he sat back in his chair, listening to the two companions bicker. Glancing outside once more he saw Connor exit the restaurant and onto the sidewalk. Thomas saw him bend down and glance right and left. Abruptly take a left turn, and walked past the window of the restaurant where the boys had their table, then out of sight.

"Kevin, did you see the new Game of Thrones episode?" Arnold spoke out.

"Nah, man I don't think I'm gonna keep watching."

He gasped, his eyes going wide, "What, why?!" Arnold said with utter shock. "Buddy!"

Kevin laughed at him, and took a sip of his drink nonchalantly. "I think I fell out of it, too much going on." He gave a slight shake of the head.

Arnold gestured wildly with his arms, "But that's the best part!"

"Maybe for you," Kevin laughed again,"Anyways, I don't like them going off the books for the newest season. Everything is too generalized. Plus, the show can get a little graphic for me." He made a grimace.

"Buuuuuuuddy!" Arnold was starting to sound sad, and Kevin was trying to hold back laughter by sipping at his drink, maybe not the best idea. Thomas was chuckling off to the side at Arnold's' reactions.

Kevin put his hand on the nerdy boys shoulder, feigning sympathy. "Don't worry, I'll still read the books!" He tried to satisfy him, thought Arnold was barely hearing it.

"But, Kevin! Haven't you heard about the new stuff with the white walkers! And, and the-"

Thomas gave a little yelp and plugged his ears, "No spoilers! I still plan on watching!"

Arnold sighed in relief, "Someone here is reasonable!" Thomas and Kevin both laughed at him, and settled back down into their seats. Arnold took a few more breaths, and regained composure.

"What about Supernatural Kevin?" He whined out. Kevin groaned.

"Show is going downhill, but I'll finish this season and then judge if I wanna keep watching."

"But Kevin stuff is going down! Have you not-"

"Can we change the subject?" Thomas interrupted, looking not sorry whatsoever.

"Yes!" Kevin shouted, Arnold looked incredulous.

"What! Hey, that's no fair- Ohh! Waitress!" He actively waved his arms over Kevin's head, causing him to duck, completely losing track of his previous thoughts. The waitress came over and politely asked what he would like. She inquired if the boys were ready to order, but they still said they weren't, so she left to get Arnold's refill which he politely asked for.

After a few more minutes of idle chatter, Thomas glanced outside and his thoughts drifted back to his friends. Connor had ran out a good five minutes ago, and surely it doesn't take that long to grab a friend, he thought. He even noticed Arnold was a little anxious, he repeatedly was glaring outside into the dim light then casting his glance quickly back to Kevin, not noticing anything.

"Connor's been gone for a while. The heck is he doing?" He asked. Kevin furrowed his brows and squinted outside to look as well.

"Did you actually see Stephen out there when Connor ran out?"

Thomas looked away, "No, but Connor seemed pretty keen when he ran outside. I saw him take off down that way." He motioned to the left, out of their line of sight. Kevin noticed his worried look.

"Poptarts are you okay?" He inquired, looking him in his brown eyes. Said boy glanced down at his hands, and then with determination to the front doors.

"I'm not sure. I have a weird feeling. I'm gonna go get them from outside."

Kevin looked a little more confused. "Man, you're making me worried. Do you want one of us to go out with you?" He proposed, and Thomas hesitantly nodded sliding his chair back and pushing himself to a standing position.

"By the way dude, what do you mean by a bad feeling?" Kevin asked with genuine concern, casting his gaze up onto Thomas's face. Thomas gave a very slight shrug, and made his way around the table.

"I really don't know…" He said sternly and frowned, then scooted around the table. With an elbow, he nudged Arnold.

"Kevin, you can keep our table?" Said boy gave an uneasy nod, then Thomas added, "Arnold, come on."

Arnold jolted up slightly, "Oh, okay!" and followed suit. Kevin turned in his seat and watched his two friends bounce down the few stairs, around other tables, and head out the front doors into the cool night. Kevin shrunk in his seat and looked around him, feeling awkward and almost vulnerable now that he was the only one sitting at their table for five. It felt so empty without them, and Poptarts had got his mind occupied now. _What is he talking about?_ He thought, and rested his head in his hand letting his eyes drift close. Now that he was alone at the table he got sort of anxious, and took small breaths to calm his insecure mind. Kevin knew that the waitress would soon return with Arnold's drink, and prayed that he would be back by then. He didn't want to deal with her confused inquiries. " _Where did your friends go?"_ He imagined her asking, then he would have to give an unsure reply, and probably say too much-

 _What the hell am I thinking about?_

Kevin shook his head, and lazily glanced outside looking for his friends. Through the window he saw Thomas grab Arnold's arm and pull him left, down the sidewalk where he saw Connor run off to. This did get Kevin thinking again, _Where could Connor be?_ _It doesn't take that long to retrieve someone from outside and lead them back to the table. But surely Poptarts was overthinking it, what could have happened?_

Right now Kevin longed to get up, run outside, and check on his friends, but he was asked to save their table. He almost wished that Arnold had been the one to stay behind, but Arnold had the attention span of a toddler. He would surely worry, then get up to leave to follow without notifying anyone, in the end probably getting their table given away. Better Kevin than him.

Tucking in more on himself, Kevin sighed and began to pick at the napkin in front of him. Not liking sitting alone at a large table in a crowded, loud restaurant, he tried not to let his anxiety knaw back at him. He tried shifting his thoughts to something more comforting, but nonetheless found himself involuntarily glancing out the window for his friends every few seconds. They had been outside for at least a minute now, and Kevin had no idea where they could have gone. The restaurant walls blocked his view from further down the street, so he couldn't stretch to see them even if he tried. He tapped at the table now, relaxing somewhat more as the seconds ticked by.

But then there was Arnold. Kevin jolted up, straining to see through the darkness if his friends were returning, but all he saw was Arnold backing up. Backing up at a faster pace than Kevin had seen him move before. He readjusted himself in his chair, and gripped the table edges as he watched from inside. Struggling to see exactly what was going on, Kevin stood up and moved a few feet closer to the window. As he squinted, he noticed Arnold's eyes were wide and wild. Just as Kevin was about to tap on the glass, and wave his arm in attempt to gain his attention to check what was going on, a large dark man came forward and grabbed at Arnold's arm. The man pulled him back, and Kevin noticed him stumble forward. Before the two boys were out of sight, he saw the dark man wrap his arm around Arnold's head.

 _What_

 _The_

 _Fuck_

Kevin's eyes went huge, and he stumbled back over a couple of the wooden chairs. He gripped the table for support, and froze. What had he just saw? What the hell just happened? What was that look on Arnold's face? Who the _hell_ was that man?!

Without even thinking Kevin tumbled through his friend's empty chairs and made a B line to the exit ignoring all the curious glances he got. He pushed the double doors open, hearing the ding of the bell, feeling the slight breeze blow his hair, but Kevin didn't register any of it.

Gazing to the left, Kevin sprinted down the sidewalk, but saw no one. He did a few turn arounds, flinging his body back and forth vigorously looking for his friends, but saw no one.

"Arnold?" He called out nervously, but got no reply. This worried him a little further, especially when he began to hear banging from a car a few vehicles up. Kevin began to doubt himself.

"Come on guys," he hesitantly said as he made his way towards the noise, "This isn't some kind of prank.." He heard a sharp scream, but silenced quickly, followed by a thud.

 _Connor?!_ He thought, and now pinpointed a dark, squarish van where the noises were coming from. Assumably from the other side of the vehicle, he heard one of the doors slam shut and the car took of.

"HEY! Wait!" He called out sprinting after the car, but they quickly skidded out of the parking lot. Kevin tried to spare a glance through the back window of the car but it was covered with a drape.

He began to panic now, and Kevin stumbled backwards a few steps.

 _Was that them? What the hell is going on!_

Now slightly shaking, he tried to calm himself by taking deep breaths, but to no avail.

 _I-I have to call the police! Was that even them, though?!_ He continued to stumble backwards, until his back hit something rock hard. Kevin went rigid, and with frantic eyes and shaking legs, slowly turned around.

"Oho, no police." The man said viciously. Kevin flinched when he heard that, and almost dropped his phone. Now fully turned around, Kevin shifted his gaze up.

He peered into the eyes of a tall, dark man who bore a black long sleeve and shredded vest. The man's eyes were piercing black, and they tore evilly into Kevin's being. The young man began to hyperventilate, and the taller one knocked the smartphone out of his hand. Kevin let it fall to the ground, and attempted to take a small step back, mouth still agape.

The man had none of this, with a psychotic glare he grabbed Kevin's arms and twisted them behind his back. With one free arm, he grabbed a thick cloth out of a pocket in his vest and pulled it tight around Kevin's mouth. Crouching down to Kevin's ear, the man spoke again.

"You _shut up_ , you _follow me_ , you _get in the car_." His voice was low and hoarse, and spoke with a thick accent. Kevin began violently shaking, and did his best to struggle in his iron grip. Anger washed upon him and he tried to scream back a response. His captor in return tightened his hold on the smaller boy and Kevin whimpered, but didn't let down. Until he felt something hard stick into his back.

"This is a gun."He said simply. "You shut up, you get in the car." Kevin's eyes shot wide and he froze. The man kneed him forward in the back, and Kevin lost his footing.

"Hey!" A grumbled yell was heard from behind captor turned over his shoulder "What is going on?"

A middle aged, modestly dressed man approached slowly with a confused expression. Hesitantly, he held out an accusing hand at the boy, and the captor tightened his grip on Kevin.

"What are you doing?" He sounded baffled, "Let that poor boy go, what is going on?"

A woman dressed in a delicate red dress slowly stepped out of a car from behind him, her arms crossed and worry casting over her face. Her light brown hair fell over her shoulders. Kevin's holder shifted his gaze to the woman, and from where Kevin was could feel his captors chest muscles rocking. He was laughing.

"Is that your wife?" He asked the other man, who stood back slightly befuddled at the laughter. The stranger uneasily turned back, lowered his arm and turning to the woman behind him. She looked at him concerned, and the two of them almost simultaneously turned their eyes to the teen and man holding him. Kevin shook even more, pleading with his eyes to the couple for help. A hesitant nod was given by the husband in response to the question, and his wife behind him stood a little closer.

Kevin's mind was racing. _He has a gun on my back. Oh my gosh what is he going to do to me. Oh God, please let me get away. Why are you doing this to me?_

The captor grinned a sinister grin at the man with a mouth full of thick yellow teeth. The husband cringed, and looked even more bewildered. A light gust of wind blew, ruffling the husbands jean coat, his wife shivered and attempted to cover her body. The captor didn't flinch.

"I suggest you leave, she is pretty, shame if something bad happened." Kevin could hear his accent even thicker now as the man's voice held a sort of implication that he couldn't place. A gasp was heard, and the husband held his arms out to shield his wife. His expression was of anger and offense.

"My wife's body is none of your business. I suggest you let that poor boy go. I'm sure he's done nothing wrong." The husband spoke with bitterness. "If you don't let him go I'll call the damn police."

Again, the captor adjusted his grip on Kevin, and Kevin felt the release of pressure on his back. The man gave a wicked smile topped with a sinister laugh, and whipped the gun into the air, aiming it directly at the husband's face. The wife let out a small cry of horror, bending over cupping her face in her hands. Her husband's eyes went wide and he put his arms up in surrender.

"Woah sir, why don't you just calm down. I'm not gonna do anything drastic." You could sense the fear in his voice. Kevin's captor must have sensed it, because his next phrase was without hesitation, almost playful.

"Not you, but I will."

In the split second to follow, the husband gasped and launched forward noticing the captor placing his finger on the trigger. His arms flew out in front of him as he dove for the concrete, but it was too late.

With a sickening crack, the gun reeled back, and the husband tumbled forward, blood flying from the now hole in his head. His large body fell lifelessly downward in the direction of the shooter, but the shooter he did not hit.

With Kevin being the one held in a tight grip in front of the captor, the husband's body fell straight into him. Kevin attempted to reel back but the grip he was held by was too sturdy.

The heavy, adult body tumbled into Kevin and the teen gasped with horror. With his free arm he struggled to catch the man's falling corpse, his head slamming against Kevin's small chest with force and blood smearing onto his sweater. Kevin sucked in a horrible breath and shuddered as he tried to adjust his grip on the now dead man. He heard a feminine scream come from somewhere, but it didn't register to him.

With a spasm, Kevin let the man's lifeless body smack the concrete ground, there being nothing he could do to cushion the fall He heard a sickening crack as he hit the ground. Kevin pushed back with horror, eyes wide and tears glistening. All he could do was stare at the husband's body, blood now pooling under his head and seeping into the sidewalk cracks. With a jerking movement Kevin felt his body be tugged away, but he didn't budge. He was rigid _._ With a frustrated exhale, the man gripped Kevin by the waist, sheathed his gun, and hoisted the teen over his shoulder, then made a BEeline down the sidewalk and Into a nearby car.

With a hard grip he flung the car door open and jumped through the back door. Kevin felt his body be pushed to the floor beneath the seats in the back of the car. Barely focusing on his surroundings, only on the sharp pain his head and body felt by being roughly positioned and squished to the dirty car floor, he heard his captor speak to someone sitting in the driver's seat in a foreign language, before he felt the rough fling of a car taking off.

Kevin was hyperventilating again, and was making whimpering noises. He heard more shouting above him, which caused him to begin crying harder.

"Shut him the fuck up!" The driver yelled as Kevin felt them speed out of the parking lot. A large hand gripped his short black hair roughly, and pull his head up from the floor. His captor got down low.

"You shut the fuck up or I will not hesitate to hurt you, white boy."

Once his strong grip was released Kevin's head fell hardly to the ground, his eyes wide, tears streaming down his face, and teeth biting his quivering lip.

"Take the road by the river, and go up it far. Take a long route, we had to cause a scene, the police may be arriving. "

He heard a pissed off grunt from the front seat, "Ohh, fuck you!"

"A man saw us, his wife too. He's dead, she will call the police. Fucking go where I tell you."

After a few moments of tense silence, Kevin felt the car swerve wildly again, him giving out a short cry as his head slammed against a metal bar under the seat. He received a kick on the top of his back in return.

"Shut the fuck up boy." He was spat at, " Thanks to you we take the long route. But, don't worry, you will see your friends soon." The captor said, and Kevin could hear the smile on his face.

This was all enough to cause the boy to let his head drop down once more, after a small crack and cry, Kevin Price passed out.

'


	2. Realization

**Sorry for the long wait. Exam season, but I'm all done them now! Reviews are appreciated :)**

Connor slid his chair back and quickly bounced out of the restaurant to grab Stephen from outside. Once he pushed the restaurant doors open he was greeted by the cool evening breeze, now even a little crisper due to his lack of jacket which he left back inside on his chair, but he wouldn't be outside long. After closing the doors and walking down the few steps, he took a glance both ways. He saw someone down the sidewalk on the left walk into the parking lot, and it being the only person in sight, Connor made his way over. As he passed by the restaurant window, he glanced at his friends' table through the glass, but kept going.

"Stephen! We are here!" He called ahead to the figure, jerkily coming to a stop. Connor didn't see anyone at this point, but knew his friend couldn't be far. He had just seen him walk by the restaurant window! A few moments passed, and there was no reply. Connor kept walking towards the spot where he saw the person walk in between the cars and into the parking lot.

He hesitantly glanced through the gap separating the two cars, but saw no one. With a now furrowed brow, he called out again questioningly. "Stephen?" Connor waited a few more seconds, but still got no reply. "Maybe it wasn't him…" he mumbled to himself.

Connor took a few steps back from the cars, and looked down the remainder of the nearby sidewalk in the direction he saw the person initially go, but there was no one shrugged, slightly upset with himself. Being the natural leader of the group, Connor always wanted to make sure everyone was clear on their plans, and satisfied with the decisions. And now that Stephen wasn't here he began to feel slightly guilty. _Did I give him the wrong info on accident?_ Maybe in this case, he was a little too keen or anxiously attentive to detail.

The boy hung his head and turned around, now truly curious to where Stephen was. He _was_ quite late.

Connor and the other boys had recently been wondering a lot about their friend. Stephen has been quite anxious or...apprehensive as of late. Quiet too. Seems to be stuck in his head quite often. But the most newest change has to be his headaches. Stephen never complained often, but headaches he had used as an excuse quite often lately.

 _Could they be stress migraines? I've had those before, but then what's he so stressed about? Could is be his parents fighting?_ Connor thought, _I think it's been pretty bad recently, I saw a huge bruise on his mother when she picked him up the other day..._

He shook his head slightly.

 _Waaaay off topic Connor!_

Connor took a few steps onward and lifted his gaze back to the restaurant doorway but he stopped with a jerk dead in his tracks. His blue eyes went wide.

Standing a few feet in front he noticed Stephen whose eyes were swollen and bloodshot. Connor could hear the boy letting out gasping sobs because of the tight grip he was being held in.

Behind Stephen a tall man had an arm wrapped across his throat, which Stephen in turn held on to with his free arm in a death grip. His other arm was tucked behind his back where Connor couldn't see. Stephen was hyperventilating in the harsh grip, and his eyes were completely swollen from all the crying. His knees were shaking, and the only thing keeping him held up was the arm hooked under his neck, which was seemingly gagging him.

"Stephen?! Wha-what the he..?" Connor stuttered out barely believing how he was seeing his friend. His eyes kept shifting between the terrified form of Stephen, and the man who has him seized.

Stephen hiccuped, and let out a small cry after making initial eye contact with Connor. He began to shake, and neither of the two teens had any idea what to do. Connor shifted his gaze up the the tall man.

"What are you doing to him?!" Connor exclaimed, but he received no answer from the mean looking man. Connor waited, but the moments of silence and apprehension tarried, neither individual wanted to make a move.

Instinctively Connor's hand slowly began to reach up and into his pocket. That's where he knew his phone would be, and he could call 911. Cautiously moving his arm up his body, he didn't break eye contact with Stephen's captor. He kept an impassive facade, but was wondering if his absolute fear was showing through his expression.

"Connor run!" Stephen yelled and jerked in the tight grip. His captor finally moved, and his stoic facade changed to blatant fury.

Abruptly the captor shouted something in his booming voice, something in a foreign tongue that made both Stephen jump, and Connor suddenly whip around to run.

Connor flung himself backward in the opposite direction of the restaurant, and attempted to run until he hit something hard with a thud. He then felt firm arms wrap around his small body, and Connor began thrashing to release himself.

Another towering figure has situated himself right behind the teen, and when Connor flung around he slammed right into his broad chest. Connor was slightly dazed but it didn't let it affect his struggles to break free. "No!" He cried out, still squirming.

The man took hold of Connor's arms and whipped him around, holding his hands behind his back and bending Connor forward, helpless. Connor tried to struggle free of the grip, but with the angle of his arms, it would do more harm than good. He was still struggling, and with his contorting movement noticed his phone fall from his pocket, and he gave a desperate curse. Now experiencing true fear, Connor began to cry.

"What are you doing to me!" He screamed out, letting go of all strength in his legs and allowing his knees to smash to the concrete ground. The captor let out a curse, having to stumble forward slightly with the abrupt extra weight of holding up Connor's entire body. He kneed the teen in the back angrily, causing the teen to yelp out in pain and crouch more to the sidewalk, his arms bent high over his back in the Captor's grip.

Connors holder shouted something to the man holding Stephen, a few feet away. Connor tried to peer up from his position on the ground up to his friend, and what he saw through his tear filled eyes pained.

Stephen was in a fetal position with his arms crossed over what Connor could see of his face, and had just been roughly kicked in the gut which bumped him a foot or so across the pavement. It caused to boy to let out a small cry and to begin shaking even more, pulling his knees as far as he could on his chest. The man who had kicked him looked towards Connor with pure anger, and then up to the man who has just called him.

He replied something back in a foreign tongue, Connor felt the man above him nodding in response, and then the man above Stephen roughly gripped his arms and pulled the young boy to his feet. Connor finally got a good look at his friend's face, it probably looked much similar to his own freaked, tear stricken face.

Connor was abruptly pulled up mirroring what happened with Stephen, and then kneed in the opposite direction. His head was down, and it was hard to tell where he was going until he hear a nearby car door slide open.

 _Oh_

 _Shit_

"Stepheeeen!" He worriedly cried out, but was suddenly thrown through the door of the van. "Noooo!"

Connor felt his small body crash against the dirty, carpeted floor of the van. The smell of potent marijuana, or some other sort of smoke invaded his senses, and he gave a heaving cough. His legs were grabbed from behind him and tossed alongside the rest of his body. He struggled to pull himself up, and as he did, Stephen was flung in next to him. Connor quickly pulled himself into a sitting position, and looked straight into the faces of the two captors bending over outside the car. He reached forward with a cry to try to save the door from closing, but he flinched back as it almost slammed on his outstretched fingers. The click of the doors locking sounded, echoing in his ears.

The back seats of the car had been cleared out allowing more space in the interior. The back and side windows has thick, blanket drapes obscuring any sunlight or view to reach the inside of the car. A few cardboard boxes sat empty against the large back door, and the van reeked of drugs.

Connor sat there for a few moments in shock, his mind reeling with possibilities. He came to no conclusions, and the anxiety of the situation began to completely sink in. Next to him, Connor heard a whimper, and his attention was then immediately diverted to Stephen.

Stephen was still in a fetal, body violently shaking and clutching his pained stomach. His face was pointed in the direction of Connor, but view obstructed by his arms. Connor sadly hunched over the crying form of hs friend, rubbing his left arm across Stephens back in comfort.

"Stephen?! Stephen are you okay?" He hushed out in panic. Connor tried to pry his friends arms away from his face, and although with a little reluctance from the cowering teen, he began to realise who was talking to him.

"Connor?" He whispered out in a small voice, and shakily repositioned his arms away from his face. Stephen looked up into Connor's watery blue eyes, and realised that he was just as scared as he was. A slight nod came from his friend, and Stephen reached out to hold Connors free arm.

As his friend sat up, Connor watched him with a sad eye and began to grip his arms in a way that pulled him into a sitting position. That until he noticed Stephen's eyes go wide, and frame rigid. His friends eyes pointed off to somewhere just over Connor's left shoulder, and his breaths became extremely shallow. A cold chill slowly travelled its way down Connor spine. While still gripping Stephens arms, Connor slowly and jerkily turned his torso to check behind him towards where he knew the two front seats of the car were.

His gaze was met with two dark men, eye whites shining in the lack of light the car was receiving, and both tore into his soul. The one in the driver's seat had a sick smile, which the other has a curious gaze upon his facade, and worst of all had a hand pistol directed straight at the two boys. Connor gulped, his hands unconsciously gripped Stephens even tighter.

One of the men, the one in the driver's seat gave out a wicked laugh seeing the boys petrified expressions, and jumped and shifted in his seat, contorting his body back to face the two teens. His arms now gripped the back of the seat, and his gnarly teeth gleamed in the pale light.

"You two boys.." He spoke slowly, with a thick accent, "it is nice, to have you here"

Both boys just had their eyes wide, mouths hung open, but neither uttered a word in response to the bizarre statement. It barely even registered in the two of them. Instead, they let their eyes rapidly flicker back between the two alien men sitting in the front seats, and the handgun pointed at them. The man on the left who had turned back to them watched the teens with an amused and inspecting gaze. His grin became even more sinister.

"I see you notice the gun," The same man spoke, his warm breath radiating from his disgusting mouth. At the mention of the weapon, Connor's eyes flicked down.

"That is for if you try anything… jump, shout, escape… you boys will regret those actions. Comrade here will not hesitate to pull the trigger!" In response, said man switched his finger from the handle of the gun to rest lightly on the trigger, eyes darkening.

"Wha...whaa.." Connor mumbled out not being able to form a single word out of fear. He gripped Stephen's arms harder and his shaking increased, he hunched his back over slightly, but remained facing the two men in the front seats. Both boys eyes were wide with never before seen terror.

Connor's mind was racing. He had no idea what to think, what to do, who these men were, what he could say, where they were going, what was their plan, what was he doing here, how did this happen, what was going to happen, what he could do, were they going to _die_. It was the first time in his life where he had tried to come up with a split second decision to act upon, but he _didn't_ come to a conclusion. He just _couldn't_ think of anything to do. His mouth quivered trying to say something, but instead he broke down.

A large sob escaped his mouth and tears began readily flowing from his eyes. He was half weeping, his breaths coming in loud, uneven hitches. Connor's arms flew from Stephen to cover the bottom part of his face as he crumbled to the floor of the car. Stephen, not knowing what to do and trying to avoid an all out panic attack for Connor's sake, hunched over his quivering friend and began to speak to him.

"Connor, Connor! C-calm down!" He stumbled out, struggling to support his friend all the while trying to ignore the pain in his abdomen from being kicked. Stephen's eyes darted from Connors quivering frame to those of the men in the front seats, but turned his gaze back to his friend. Connor continued to cry on the floor, his heart was racing and Stephen noticed he was struggling to breath.

His eyes went wide, and Stephen got close to Connor's head, trying to pull it up to face him but his body was rigid. "Look at me, Connor!" He shouted in a whisper, trying to still prop up his friend into a sitting position, though the small teen was too out of it.

Stephen gripped the sides of Connor's face and tried pulling his arms away, which he eventually did revealing Connor's tear stricken face and wide blue eyes. "Connor, you have to breath..!" His voice cracked as tears began to run down his own face. To save them any humility, Stephen positioned himself so their faces couldn't be seen by the two foreign men in the front seats.

"Connor, look at me!" Connors wide eyes turned to his own, and his breaths were still hiccups racking his entire body, almost like a spasm. "I need you to breath with me." Stephen was surprised at the calmness of his voice, so would have Connor if he wasn't in his episode.

Stephen lightly took Connors right hand in his, and placed his other arm over his friend's chest, putting pressure above where his lungs are, he felt the rapid intake and exhales of Connor's breath. He then took the others hand, and placed it on his own chest. "Okay Connor I want you to feel my breaths, try to match them." Stephen spoke out quickly.

He received no initial response, so he gripped Connor's hand even tighter pulling it closer to his body. "You need to slow your breathing buddy. Watch me." It almost sounded like a whimper. Stephen then tried to do a few large even breaths, despite anxiety creeping up his spine much like Connor, but he had to stay calm in the moment. He pressed Connors hand to his chest so he could feel it evenly expand and compress with air. Connor attempted to follow suit, tears were still running down his pale cheeks.

"Would you shut him up?!" One of the men from the front seat shouted, and it caused both boys to flinch in response. Though, Stephen did his best to ignore it for now, taking into account he needed to hurry to calm his friend down, but diverted his attention back to aiding him.

"Connor on the count of three take a big breath okay?" Stephen attempted, putting Connor's hand back on his chest. "One, two, three" He slowly but deeply inhaled, Connor mimicking the action. Once he took one big breath, Stephen got him to repeat a few times, never breaking eye contact with Connor, and after a few tries eventually his breathing evened out. Stephen gave him a small smile as Connor slowly composed himself.

"Enough of this shit you two!" The driver's seated man shouted back causing the teens to flinch again, and Stephen now cowered a bit under the harsh command. Suddenly the man jumped, and gazed out the opposite passenger window, contorting his body forward to get a view of behind their car. His wicked smile returned and he gave a harsh laugh, and nudged the other man. "Ahh, you boys may want to fucking make room."

The two teens glanced to the men in the front seats wondering what they were referring to, but then they heard sounds of a struggle. Then a few bangs on the side of the car door. Stephen and Connor tried to look out the windows, but their view was still obstructed due to the blankets covering them.

On cue, the van door slid open and now the sounds were truly audible. Without time to think, Arnold was bent over the side of the car and his body thrown into the back lazily, but heavily. Thomas followed suit, the car rocked with the abrupt fling of their bodies onto the floor.

Connor and Stephen noticing two more of their friends being added to the situation was eye opening. "Arnold! Poptarts!" Stephen yelled out and went to reach over to them, and helping them recover from their hash impact on the ground.

"What are you doing to us! Let us go!" Arnold screamed in a whiny voice, who also had yet to compose himself from being heaved into the trunk. He flung his body around idly, not caring what he hit but just an attempt to get himself out. His heavy body swung the car even more and banged into a few of his friends as he did so. "I want out!" he screamed.

One of the two captors standing outside the car in response to the cry, gave a hearty laugh and slammed the door shut, but not before the other one jumped in the back with them. The four teens, now extremely startled, all grabbed each other and pushed back into a far corner of the van as far away from the foreign men as possible, especially now that one of them was in the trunk with them. That one reeked of sweat and cigarettes, but that was the last thing on anyone's minds. Before they could do anything, he shouted.

"Fucking go, go! Get out of here!"

His words got the two men in the front seats to jump into action. The one in the driver's seat flung his body around, turned the keys, and slammed the gas. In no time, the van was speeding out of the parking lot with a jolt, which caused the teens to abruptly be pressed into the walls of the car. The other man standing up in the back with them struggled to remain on his feet.

"What the fuck is going on!" Thomas wailed out to no one in particular, now truly getting a chance to take in what is happening.

This caused the one still standing to spin himself around, getting his race close to the teens with a look of anger. "You shut the fuck up, do you want to die!?"

"Oh my gosh please no!" Arnold cowered in response, curling in on himself and using his arms to block his face.

"No questions asked!" His accent was extremely prominent.

Thomas was stunned. "What the hell do you mean no questions?! Where the fuck are we going!"

This angered to man, his expressions one of shock and fury. He unsheathed a thick, long, black gun, turned it backwards, and sharply knocked it against Thomas's head. The boy gave out a short cry of pain as the holster hit under his eye, and caused his head to slam against the car wall.

"I said no fucking questions boy." He warned, Thomas wearily turned his gaze up to the man with fear. "Next time," he jiggled his gun, "you will not be so lucky." And with that, the man took a seat facing the four teens who were huddled against the back door of the car, against the two front chairs. Making sure all four teens were looking at him, he unsheathed a long white knife as well.

"This one," He spoke darkly, flipping his knife between his fingers,"is for fun." A sneer appeared across his face, one that left no room for scrutiny. For a good few moments all the boys were frozen with fear, none of them moved.

All they could hear, in this petrified silence, was the sounds of the car wheels spinning quickly along the roads as the wind whipped by. The teens could look out the dashboard window, and noticed the car making swerving turns out of the complex where their Greek restaurant was, and onto a nearby parkway. Well, that's what Connor noticed.

The other boys, especially Arnold and Thomas were reeling, having no actual time to register what was going on. Stephen noticed their heads whipping back and forth in terror trying to look at everything, and Thomas still rubbing the sore spot below his eye, giving out short whines. Someone must have noticed Connors inspecting gaze out the dashboard window, because after a few nudges and phrases in a foreign tongue spoken by the men up front, the on in the passenger's seat turned around to face them, raising his pistol.

"Turnaround." He said once, in a deep menacing voice that left no room for questions. It was a deadly order. "Turn your bodies, face the back door. Now." He pointed his knife.

Each teen all jumped, and quickly obliged. Now their backs rested against open air, as their feet were pressed tightly to the back door of the car. It was hard to remain seated up, with nothing for support and the car rattling around so much. But now the boy's faces were out of sight, and Connor took the initiative to speak.

"Guys.." He whispered out, his voice not nearly as powerful as he expected. It sounded like a pitiful whine.

Arnold immediately whipped his head towards Connor, he was at the far left of him with Thomas sitting in the middle of the two. Connor leaned forward to get a good look at his face in the dim light, and noticed that Arnold was crying as well. After a loud sniffle, and a wipe of the nose, Arnold spoke.

"Connor what is happening?" He wailed out, trying to keep it silent but not achieving it too well. Connor shifted his gaze to his faraway feet sadly. He furrowed his eyebrows in sorrow, and a few more tears escaped his blue eyes.

"I… I don't know." He let out, letting more silent tears escape his eyes. Thomas next to him was still rubbing his face from where he was hit, and was stiff as a board, eyes wide. Connor almost forgot about the injury his friend took.

"Poptarts, are you okay?" Connor whispered to him, leaning over slightly. Thomas shakily nodded his head without making eye contact, and let him arm sink to his side and he hunched over even more. "Who.. who are these people?" He said with the smallest voice Connor had ever heard him speak with.

Not wanting to turn back to face them again, he leaned over to his smaller thin friend and almost rested his head on his shoulder. "I have no idea Poptarts.."

Thomas in reply became frantic. "What.. what happened when _you_ went outside? Surely you must know.. know something!"

Connor looked a little incredulous, "What makes you think I know something? Surely the same thing happened to us that happened to you." He whispered back trying to remain calm. Thomas flew his arms up slightly in exasperation.

"I know.. I, I'm sorry…." He said quietly once more. "I just have no idea what is going on." Thomas really began to cry now, he sounded broken. Connor picked up his arm and began to rub his back soothingly, well, attempted to. Not that anything could aid their current situation.

Arnold sat quietly next to them, and shifted his gaze to his lap in thought. Connor saw him do this, and leaned over Thomas's legs slightly to talk to Arnold more, his arm remaining on Thomas's back, so he could also hear what he was about to say.

"Do either of you have a phone? " He said in the quietest voice he could muster, Arnold looked at him with wide eyes, and Connor motioned a silencing gesture with his free arm.

"No I left mine at home!" Arnold whispered back sadly. Thomas shook his head slightly as well.

"Mine was dead, I plugged it in before I left."

Connors gut sank a little more. "Mine fell out of my pocket when.. they…." He trailed off, not wanting to think about what happened. _Turn it off, Connor… stay calm._

Thomas perked up slightly. "Maybe someone will find it." He whispered. Connor shook his head, slightly angry tone to his voice.

"That is, if anyone figured out we are missing. " He realised the mean tone he took, and corrected himself, "I mean, what if someone random just finds it? Before, ya know, the cops maybe come check out the location, assuming that's where they find out we were taken from."

Arnold thought about what he said slightly, trying to also ignore the swerving of the van. He tried to clear his mind best he could and just focus on what Connor was saying.

"Maybe we just need to have a little faith…" he spoke in a small voice. Moments of silence followed, both Thomas and Connor thinking about what he just said, and what they could add on. Connor leaned back up from over Thomas's legs and straightened his back, and casting a gaze down to his feet. Stephen was sitting on Connor's right, against the car wall, so he veered over to ask his other friend the same question.

"Stephen." He spoke out in a whisper, keeping his voice extremely quiet again. He figured since he had been whispering with the other two teens, the captors wouldn't mind if he kept talking. "Stephen do you.. " Connor trailed off noticing the condition in which his friend was in.

Stephen had his arms wrapped tight around his torso, face contorted with pain and eyes clenched shut. He has being extremely quiet, but Connor noticed his breaths were uneven.

"Oh my gosh are you okay?" The memories of their initial kidnapping rushing back to him, he forgot that Stephen has been roughly kicked in the stomach.

Stephen lightly nodded his head and opened his eyes, offering a sad smile to Connor, then re positioning his head on the wall. "They kicked you right? How bad is it?"

"Um..I'm okay..I think it may have bruised a rib… though.." Stephen replied hesitantly. Connors face turned to one of sympathy and rested a hand on his shoulder. In attempt to lighten the mood, Connor spoke.

"Steve, how do you know what bruising a _rib,_ is like?"

It didn't invoke the desired reaction, instead, Stephen made short eye contact with him, then quickly looked away tening. Connor furrowed his brow slightly as his friends reaction, but didn't think much of it for now. Instead, he carried on with his initial question.

"Stephen do you have a phone?" He whispered. Stephen refocused his gaze to Connor, and shook his head slightly.

"Dad.. took it away. Sorry. Do any of you?"

Connor replied, "No, I asked them. And mine fell out of my pocket when… I ran out."

"Damn." Stephen replied sadly, once again repositioning his head on the wall. Connor shrunk back down into his lap,, settling into silence.

A few extremely long, extremely tense minutes went by. The boys having nothing to listen to or focus on save their own thoughts and the rumbles of outside cars. Their captors had yet to speak, and the boys were all too scared to say anything out loud. Thomas was sitting idly with his farms positioned lazily in his lap, on his outstretched legs. Connor was sitting quietly with a worried look, and was still attempting to analyze their situation.

He had noticed the accents the men have. They sounded African.. Maybe.. Somalian? _I need to learn more accents…_ Connor thought to himself. The other blatant observation was the smell of their van. It reeked of some sort of drug, probably marijuana he thought, but smokes were another category he would need to step his game up in… _or, maybe not_ …he would of laughed at his thoughts if it weren't such a dire situation.

Maybe they were being captive as a drug trade? Or maybe it was all a joke set up by someone in the school? _Stephen wouldn't have been hurt so bad if it was a prank, the men wouldn't have had guns, and this is a little too much for some sick school prank. What is going on here?_

Connor felt anxiety building up in him once more, and counted his breaths in order to steady them. He also tried focusing on the breaths of his friends, and all though he was in a fearful situation, he didn't want to think about being here alone, without the support of his friends.

That is until,

"Let us go!"

 _This_ , is what happens when you let Arnold think to himself.

"You can't keep us here! It's, it's not fair!" Arnold frantically yelled out, twisting his chubby body to face behind them up to the men. "The cops will come after you, ya know!"

"Shut up, fat boy." Was the response he got. Connor could sense the tension heightened now that Arnold spoke, and hoped it would be enough to shut him up, but Arnold didn't clue in.

"If, if you let us go now, we promise not to tell the cops!"

Connor would have deadpanned, be it any other situation, but this one was too serious for jokes. This was really happening, and Arnold was trying to _negotiate,_ with men with _guns._ What was he thinking?!

Connor hunched forward over Poparts's lap to speak to Arnold.

"What are you doing Arnold? _Shut up!_ " He whispered harshly, trying to prevent an all out showdown of sorts. Again, Arnold didn't get the cue.

He whipped his head over to the other teen, "What do you want me to do Connor? We all want to get out!" Arnold yelled go him, not even trying to soften his voice. Connor stole a glance back to the front seats, and could see the men all adjusting their positions. He gulped.

"Yes of course, but negotiating will get us nowhere! You are trying to negotiate with men with _guns_. _Guns_ Arnold."

"But what difference does that make when the police eventually find us, huh? They will feel stupid for even trying to take us."

"We don't know where we are going! How do we know police will find us?" Connor spat out without thinking. It took him a few moments to registered his words, but when he did, a terrible deeper pit formed in his stomach. Barely fifteen minutes into this all, and he already had so little faith of their rescue.

Arnold's expression turned to hurt, and hopelessness.

"Connor...don't say that."

Not wanting to go back on his word, he added on, "Arnold we have to face the outcomes if we want to…." He continued on in a whisper, "ever get out of here."

This quieted Arnold, and left him pondering over what his friend had just said. He reluctantly turned his body back around and slumped down into his own lap, clearly mentally exhausted from the ordeal.

"Should we shut them up?" The man in the driver's seat whispered over to the other two men, briefly taking his eyes away from the road. The one who sat in the back with the four boys tilted his head back to listen, and when he did hi reaction was a bizarre one. He began to laugh. Hysterically.

All four boys flinched due to the close proximity of the loud noises, and Connor and Stephen turned their heads back slightly to get a better glimpse. The man's head was still tilted back, but he had a wicked grin and his arms splayed out by his sides, knife resting idly by his left arm on the ground. The two other men in the front seats had looked back at him, and the laughing man gave them a nudge. His laughter died off ever so slowly, and he leveled his head speaking menacingly into the darkness of their van.

"Let them try to figure out what is going on. It will be fun"

A couple scoffs were heard from the two front seats, and the van settled into silence once again.

The thing the man said, really made Connor think that these captors had a huge, detailed, worked out plan in place. _"Let them try to figure out what is going on... "_ It seemed like a sentence filled with so much...knowing. This man knew what was going on, and the fact that it wouldn't be hard for the boys to figure it out doesn't make it seem like it is some serial killing. It seemed like a long plan that was playing out in their favour, and this made Connors heard sink to the bottom of a pit. This wasn't some spur of the moment drive by kidnapping, there was an intricate reasoning behind what was happened. They must have chosen their targets precisely, and somehow known exactly where the five boys would be that night. _How would they know where we were? I've never seen any of them before!_ It was a group idea, maybe if Kevin just wouldn't have rushed them into the restaurant, instead of taking the advice to wait for Stephen, it would have been five versus… four men, was it? Four men they had seen, though one walked off. No, no one was to blame except for these men who had taken them.

Connor began to reel over the moments in his head of what had happened. From the moment he arrived at the restaurant meeting Arnold, to waiting for Thomas then Kevin to show up, being seated, seeing Stephen outside through the window of the restaurant...how Connor got up to go outside and the first moments he had seen Stephen. White terror bolted through his body, and wondered if Arnold, Thomas, and Kevin had felt the same things. Out of the corner of his eye he glanced left at his friends, looking them over for any injuries as he knew Stephen, who was to his right, had taken one. Connor was fine physically himself. Other than the obvious now forming swelling on Thomas's face from being his with the gun holster, he and Arnold seemed fine. But what about…

As if on cue, Arnold let out a huge gasp. "Oh my God!" Which jolted up the three other boys. "What?!" Poptarts whispered out. Arnold turned to him with frantic, wide tear filled eyes, and gulped. Connor knew what he was going to say.

"Where is _Kevin_?!"


	3. Are we okay?

**Authors note at bottom. Thanks for reading!**

His head was limply rolling around on the car floor as Kevin fluttered his heavy eyelids open. He was greeted by only darkness, and the sound of the vehicle's tires spinning quickly on the road, and the sounds of other traffic whizzing by. It did not take long for the previous situations actions to flow back into his mind, and the young teen went rigid.

The men. The grip. The gun shot. The blood. The car. And now he was upon the dirty floor of said vehicle, down low in between the front and back seats. He lied on his stomach, arms awkwardly straight parallel down his sides, and long legs bent at the knees to fit inside. Kevin became aware of what felt like two heavy boots resting upon his spine, but could not see due to a thick blanket which was draped over his lying form. Kevin felt the weight of the thick blanket covering his body, and was all too aware of the heat caused by the lack of air circulation he was getting. Kevin was finding it harder to breath in the stuffy air, and his rising panic levels were not helping to steady it. He wished he could move, to push the blanket away slightly to allow a great breath of fresh air, but was terrified of what would happen if they knew him to be awake.

The night's events played through his head, all the way from the initial running out to check on Arnold whom he had seen being grabbed and pulled away from his window view, to the thick cloth forced over his airways, he remembered how tough it was to breath, and lastly the gun shot.

Kevin could remember how fantasy the whole scene seemed. The sharp sound of a bullet being fired semi next to his head, the short distance impact it made flying into the man's skull, the sickening crack, the man's horrified expression, the spraying blood, and the weight of the heavy man's body when it fell onto his own. For a few seconds, Kevin had to hold up the man's bloodied body, and if his captor wasn't standing behind him Kevin surely would have collapsed to the pavement under the heavy dead weight.

A real person had died. A real person had died. And on top of that he will never forget the sound of the alarmed, shocked, pained, and horrified shriek of the pour souls wife, when the gun fired. Kevin is so happy he didn't see her face at that moment, for he was gripped away too quickly to notice. That would have made the scene be a hundred percent more heartbreaking that it already was.

What was going on? This situation went from zero to a hundred in a matter of seconds, and now a man was dead. _Maybe if I just complied, those extra seconds could've been used to get me into the car, just missing the man.._ Kevin thought to himself. His mind drifted away from the awareness of his physical surroundings, instead was circling in on itself racing a mile a minute.

 _What will happen to the wife? It is all my fault, wh-why did this happen? Who are these men? Why was I taken? Where are the others? Was it just me? That man's blood is on my hands. I will never forget his face… he had a life and it's gone. That man is dead._

That man is _dead_.

 _I saw him get killed. I could have helped him. What could I have done? He is dead. He is dead._

More tears rushed down his face, but Kevin was so out of it he didn't notice. He didn't notice either when the car came to an abrupt stop. Or when the weight upon his spine was removed, and the car doors swung open. The men ripped the blanket off of his frozen form. They tried speaking to him, ordering him to walk and get out of the car, but his body wouldn't move. Unconsciously Kevin had his right arm gripping his left arm extremely tightly, digging his nails into the skin, but he was oblivious to the pain. And the blood slowly trickling out of the wound where his fingernails were. The men dragged his rigid form out of the car, Kevin unwittingly stumbling his legs along, and his head forced down. In his daze, Kevin's eyes were wide open in what could only be interpreted as true panic. The two men walking with Kevin pushed a large door open, then soon after another, and the only sound after that to hear was rattling metal and a signature click of a key lock.

The van was dead silent for the longest time, aside from the occasional sniffle, car horn, small talk between the captors, and bumps along the road. The four teens were all stuck in their own head, anxiety gripping their cores, wondering what is going on, and what will be happening next. They weren't allowed to look through the dashboard window, and all the other windows in the car were covered with blankets. All of the boy's backs were sore, because the only way they were allowed to sit was facing the back wall of the car, so their backs had nothing behind them to rest against. Stephen though was leaning on the right wall of the van for support, Arnold on the other side, Thomas and Connor in the middle.

Connor glanced down at his watch, for the umteenth time. They have been in the car for almost two hours, it is nearly eight thirty. He would get more and more worried each time he felt the car swerve around a corner, and was sure the others thought the exact same things, because every turn it made was farther from home, and the longer they were forced to think to themselves on what was going on. The more thinking, the more frightened they all got.

After what felt like hours, and Connor was fairly sure Stephen to his right had fallen asleep, the van stopped. He froze, and whipped his head back to see the two front passengers flinging their side doors open and slamming them with a thud. Said thud caused Stephen to jolt up, and whip his disoriented head around. Gasps were audible from Connor's left, from Thomas and Arnold, but they had little time to register any sort of action before the trunk door was flung open.

"Get the fuck out and get your heads down!" Shouted one of the captors, and he aimed a pistol at them. Must be the man who sat in the passenger's seat, making the one on the left the driver. "Now, move it!"

This was all the teens needed to spring into action. Connor basically threw himself out out the trunk, and hit the gravelled ground with a thud. He threw his arms out to catch himself , and winced slightly when the sharp little rocks dug into his palms.

Thomas was out at about the same time as Connor, and shyly looked up to the captors once he was standing on the ground. His legs were sore after sitting for so long on his bottom, with his legs extended out, and he wanted to stretch them. But the men would have none of it, and pushed Thomas down to his knees the instant he got out of the van.

Arnold has slid himself out of the van slowly, bending his knees and pulling them across the dirty floor of the van, earning him a "Hurry up, dumbass!" and causing him to let out a whine and cower in on himself. He didn't need to be told twice, so he put his arms on the back of his head and leaned down.

Stephen, on the other hand, had just been startled out of sleeping and was moving sluggishly, trying to register the current situation. His head moved around in a daze, and struggled to pull himself out of the van, but winced and cried in pain as he moved his sore abdomen. He almost forgot about his injury.

Stephen clutched his upper abdomen where the pain came from, and almost fell over sideways, still in the car. His face was clenched in pain, and that's all that filled his mind for a few moments. He looked up from under his blond bangs to outside of the car, and tried to twist his body once more, but the pain from his ribs was severe. Instead he slowly, not letting go of is aching abdomen, tried scooting his legs to move himself out of the vehicle. The men were having none of it, and just as Stephen was beginning to pull himself out, one of the men gruted grabbed his legs then his arms, and threw him ungraciously to the ground.

The teens mind went into a daze, an let out a loud moan at the contact with the pebbled ground, but decided to try to suck it up, and he sluggishly pulled himself onto his knees hugging his chest.

Connor, to his right, gasped and gazed at him with sympathy, even though his head was being pushed down low. His eyes were brimming with tears once more, and Connor began taking large breaths to calm himself down.

Thomas glared at the captors in anger due to the treatment of his friend, but it's unlikely his gaze actually got across to any of the three men. The final man, who was initially in the trunk of the car with the boys, jumped out, his sandaled feet making crackling noises as they landed in the gravel, and he stood up with a smirk, looking down at the four boys kneeling on the ground.

He said something in their foreign tongue that tonally wise sounded like a command, and it most likely was because once he said it the two other men nodded, and kicked the teens into action. The students outnumbered the captors, but that didn't matter. The man in the front was holding Thomas's hands behind his back, pushing him forward, and kicking Connor in the legs next to him. The two men behind him both held the arms of Arnold and Stephen separately, still making sure their heads were held down.

There was still a bit of light out, but not much. When they had arrived at the restaurant at 6:30 the sun was starting to set, and now it was pretty dark out, two hours later.

From Connor's low down position, he could tell that this property, or wherever they were(he couldn't look high enough to see in front of him, but behind and to the side he could) was huge. He could see a large field with long grasses and several large trees, that eventually became more concentrated into a forest. It was quite hilly, and Connor thought the location looked similar to one where he had once visited Thomas's aunt one time. She lived on old farm land, several of the crop fields surrounding her home were no longer kept, but the grooves in the soil remained. Few old broken down buildings remained on her large property, perfect for hideouts, as well as several walking trails weaving through the numerous fields and over the hills into the distance. Connor very much enjoyed the visits he made with Thomas there.

See, he would distract himself from his spiraling thoughts of negatively by trying to assess their environment, and instead of spending the time worrying for himself, try to make something positive of it. It was working for him so far, turning off his unfavourable thoughts.

Of course this wasn't Thomas's aunts home, but it didn't hurt to think it was… almost.

Arnold, who was behind Connor and Thomas, was stumbling forward, it being hard to walk low with his hands held above his back, especially for someone his size. "Hey, stop kicking!" He would yell out, but of course it got him nowhere.

After a few moments the boys were kicked to their knees, and were told to keep looking down. They didn't dare refuse, because the last time they did, someone was knocked in the face.

They heard a few telltale clicking sounds, and saw from their low gazes someone kick the door down in front of them. The boys all went to move forward, but they were stopped instead.

One of the men said something above them, but in their language.

There was a bit of shuffling, and Stephen, who was at the back of the pack, saw a backpack thud to the ground near his face, and the next thing he knew a piece of black fabric was being tied around his head, knotting into his hair at the back. The others were soon to follow.

Arnold struggled the most. As one of the men tossed a cloth to the man holding Arnold, he began to shake and twist his head out of the way.

"Stop moving!" Ordered the tall man.

"No!" He resisted and kept swinging his head out of the way, almost pathetically. From the groan the captor gave above him, you could almost hear him roll his eyes. Then his face went angry and he grabbed the hair at the base of Arnold's head and pulled back, effectively stopping him.

"Ow-ow-ow!" He cried out and winced in pain. Arnold's small black curls were twisted between the cracks in the fist the man made, and soon enough Arnold couldn't see a thing either.

The four teens were all roughly pushed through the doorway, although it was a tough squeeze. Then they were blindly lead through the building, that smelled wet and earthy, like mold, but their feet made quick taps on what sounded like a wooden floor. Their hands were gripped tightly from begin in a fist as the men pushed them along, and the boys struggled to keep balance without the use of their arms to stable themselves.

Their cries of pain and frustration went unto deaf ears because the captors weren't saying a word in response to their outcries.

"Where are you taking us?!" Thomas shouted out but he got no answer, not even a rough shove for talking out, something he was known for.

Soon enough they came to an abrupt halt, each teen bumping into eachother as Thomas at the front stopped. Well, tried to stop. Because he was being pushed forward in front of the captor, when they approached the staircase he was not given any time to register the declining steps, plus he was blind, so he took a step forward and fell straight down.

Almost fell down, luckily if you could say, he was being gripped by his hands that were held begin his back, so when he fell forwards his arms were twisted up unnaturally because the man didn't let go. Thomas screamed in pain.

All the other teams gasped at the cry of their friend, not knowing exactly who it came from, but they could only assume.

"Thomas?! Thanks oh my god!" Connor exclaimed and struggled forward in his grip.

"What happenned!?" Arnold creamed after him in panic, and in his shrinking voice.

Before anyone could do anything else, the captor holding Thomas, who's knees were bent trying to keep from falling again down the stairs, who is heaving and straightening his bank to attempt to ease the pain, got yanked by his still outstretched arms back up to the first step.

The small teen gritted his teeth and let out a pain filled moan, a small tear slipping from one eye but quickly soaking into the black blindfold. He was panting, and was thankful his arms were no longer twisted, but the deep pain had yet to subside.

The captor in the front with Thomas took a step down the stairs then pulled the boy along with him slower, letting out a scoff in frustration. Slowly after that the three other boys were lead down the staircase.

When they got to the assumed lower level, it smelled even worse of dampness, dust and dirt. It was so stuffy, and humid. They took a few more steps inside, and then heard what sounded like a motor that was running, something like a washing machine but with the occasional loud metal clank that made the boys jump. Thankfully, or not thankfully, they were lead away from the noise, to the left, and turned a corner.

They soon stopped, heard signature metal jingles, then a latch, then a door hinge, and felt themselves flying to the solid ground.

When Connor hit the floor, he scrambled to fling his blindfold off and whip his head around to gain sight of the captors. His orange hair flung up in the motion and he turned around on all fours, a desperate look crossing his face. Eyes dude and frantic,

Connor caught one quick glimpse of the three men, and expected them any second to slam the door shut and leave them in darkness, but they did something else before they left.

The three men menacingly stood in the doorway. Their muscular frames emphasized in the dim light and their sweat glistened. They wore raggedy clothing but somehow that made them seem all the more unpredictable. The tallest man, the one who Connor recognized to be the man who sat in the in the back of the van with them, stepped forward, his machine gun sling and knife holster in view. All Connor could do was watch with wide terrified eyes.

Slower than him, Stephen got his blindfold off and carefully got himself onto his knees to watch the captors. Same with Arnold, who struggled to untie the fabric that got knotted into his hair.

"You, boys.." The man began. No one made a single movement. He slowly began to raise his arm and point somewhere behind the teens in the room they were thrown into.

"Do you see the pipes and the chains?" He said in his thick accent, "You pull anything, that is where you end up. You hear me?"

The boys did hear him, but they couldn't respond. He continued.

"Or I shoot you." The man pulled out his gun, and the teens flinched. He snickered a few times, and went to holster the weapon, but abruptly flung it out and shot the stone wall. A loud crack rang through the basement and rock shards flew from the wall. The teens cried and huddled closer, the captors were laughing.

The three men turned their backs and began to walk out of the door, slamming it shut, and leaving them in total darkness. Not even a sliver of light was seen through the bottom of the door

"Guys?!" Connor rang out in worry. He blindly reached around with his arms, hitting the back of two of his friends.

While trying to slow his rapid breathing, Connor spoke. "Okay, okay! Who, who is this?" He proceeded to tap on someone's back lightly to his right.

"It's me Connor." Arnold replied with, Connor gave a small nod of acknowledgement out of habit, but it couldn't be seen by the others due to the pitch blackness of the room.

"And-and this?" He stuttered out next, hitting the other person to his left now.

Stephen replied in a small voice. "It's Stephen."

Connor nodded again, and swallowed. "Poptarts where are you?" He asked using their old nickname for him.

He heard slight shuffling noises, and a groaned out "here" from a few feet to his right just out of reach. "I'm coming over.." Thomas proceeded to try to pull himself into a sitting position off of his side but he cried in pain at the use of his arms.

This made Connor gasp. "Oh my God Thomas, what did happen?!" Arnold shouted out to him, twisting his body around to where he heard him speak from.

"I fell down the stairs!" He wailed out, and it was followed by a loud sob as he crumbled in on himself and fell back to the floor. Tears began to rush out of his eyes but he made no effort to wipe them away, too painful to move his arms.

"When I-I fell, he was holding my arms and it jolted my sh-shoulders back.." He whispered out trying to stop his sobs. At the sound of his broken friends weeping, it brought more tears to Connor's eyes.

"Are, are you okay?" He whispered out.

" _Are_ weokay?" Echoed Stephen in a small voice, as Connor tried blindly to crawl over to Thomas. Stephen began to pull himself onto his knees, and steady himself on his feet to stand up in the darkness.

Connor made it over to the crying Poptarts, and patted over his body to find his head, though it didn't take much time. The redhead positioned himself into a cross legged sit and pulled the small boys head up into his lap, and stroked his hair soothingly, ignoring the worry brought on by Stephen's statement.

"There, has to be some sort of light!" Arnold stated out, twisting his body around in every position as if he could see around the room.

"That's what I'm looking for." Stephen replied with. One arm holding his aching chest and the other waving around in the air to find some sort of switch or pulley.

"I'll try to help." Arnold said sadly, and with a puff of air pushed himself off the ground onto wobbly legs. He briefly struggled for balance, shooting his arms out for stability, and almost fell over a couple times as he tried to locate a wall.

"My legs are super shaky, guys." Arnold stated in a small whine while taking some steps around in the dark. Tears began to form in his eyes as he pitifully reached out somewhere for a wall.

Stephen, after ten seconds or so, found himself brushing over a stone surface, and he rang his hand along to locate some sort of switch. He felt his hands go moist, and he pulled his right one back, and wiped whatever made it onto his hand onto his pant leg, and continued on with a grimace. Arnold blindly ended up finding the back wall of the room, and as he was patting down the wall his hands ran over the chains, making rattling noises.

"Uh guys I found the chains.." He trailed off, and earned no reply.

He kept his hands running over the rock walls, over pipes(as mentioned by the captors), what felt like raggedy cloth draped up, and he felt himself kick something metal across the floor, but didn't try to pick it up in the darkness.

After a minute or so of silence, a gasp was heard from across the room from where Stephen was, and Arnold turned his gaze. "What is it?" He asked at the same time as Connor did. Thomas was still lying in his lap, turned on his side, head buried in Connor's knees.

"I think, I may have found something…" Stephen said aloud, which was followed by a clicking noise, and a dim light filled the room.

He has pulled down on a string that dangled from the ceiling. "It hit my head.." he stated. Now the boys could see around.

The light string was located to the right of the door a few feet into the room. The room was a lot bigger than they expected, not having much time to get a good look at it before the captors shut the door, though they had only left a few minutes ago.

Along some of the walls, what Arnold felt earlier, were ragged cloths that looked stained and dirty. Him and Stephen were the only two on their feet and they were taking small steps around. Looking in through the doorway, on the right wall was the small hole where the gunshot smacked in and some of the debris lay in a pile below it, near where Thomas and Connor were sitting. There were a few thick stone pillars in the middle of the room with chains tied around the bottom as well. A dirty old, what could only be assumed white sink sat at the back of the far right wall, and an old wooden box that resembled one of the outhouse boxes you'd see in the middle of the woods on a camping trip, one that lead to a hole in the ground. But the most unnerving, was the back wall.

Rusty pipes littered the back wall and to them tied were several long rusty chains, that looked to have been sitting there for a long time. The ground beneath them was stained ugly colours, partly from dripping water, but who knows what else. Arnold and Stephen both noticed it at the same time and looked to each other.

"Oh my God…" Whispered Arnold, mouth dropping open and water flowing down his cheeks. Stephen nodded in acknowledgement, and turned his puffy red gaze back to the wall. He began taking small steps over to observe it closer.

Each step the teen took closer, the more his heart sank and choking anxiety creeped in. He had little energy to actually lift his feet up too high as he walked, so his shoes made shuffling noises as he made his way across the room.

He observed the rusty chains on the ground, almost disintegrating. Piles of dust and cobwebs covered a lot of them too, and wisping noises of water gushed through the pipes. He could also hear a constant dripping from one of the pipes to the right, close to the sink, and he timidly walked over. Stephen noticed the water was tinged with a red hue, probably from running over the rusty metal, and he grimaced. Next he turned his gaze to the dirty sink, that was now more of a brown/green colour. He was too scared to run a finger along the basin to see what kind of residue it really was.

Stephen then shakily brought a hand up, and turned back to Arnold, who was watching his every move from across the room, he hadn't moved an inch since they noticed this back wall of horrors. Arnold gave a short hesitant nod, knowing what Stephen was about to do next.

The teen turned his gaze back to the sink, and reached forward to the faucet. He lightly put his hand on top of it, and so slowly began to turn the knob, shaking all the while.

What he didn't expect was it to make an awful suction sound, which caused him to jump back in fear and Arnold let out a small cry of shock from across the room. It seemed like air was shooting out of the sink, and you could hear the terrible sound fly through the pipes as well. Stephen cursed aloud, and then jumped back to the sink to turn it off, but before he could the noise stopped and water began to trickle from the spout, although very little. He turned it off and heaved a sigh of relief.

"Sorry guys!" He half yelled out, catching his breath from the fear. Even Poptarts and turned up to look at him fearfully, his pale brown eyes wide. Normally Stephen would have smiled it off, but this was not the correct circumstance.

He took a few careful steps back, and kicked something with the back of his foot, which cause him to jump again and a clang sound in the room. Stephen turned around and saw part of an old pipe lying across the floor, and although it was nothing important he still cringed at the sound it made. He shook his head and turned his gaze to the object next to the sink, an assumed toilet.

The toilet was a large wooden box, covered in a wooden lid, and it sat against the wall. The wood was turning a pale brown, rotten looking. Stephen winced at the look of it, and gain with a hesitant hand began to lift up the lid. He was not prepared.

As he took hold of the wooden lid and turned it up, the most nauseating smell came forth that enveloped his nostrils. The smell of decaying something..or _you know what_ came out of the hole in the box and Stephen abruptly jumped back and the lid of the box fell with a loud slam.

Stephen collapsed to the floor coughing, and began crawling away to escape the smell. Once maybe five or so feet away he dry heaved, and Arold rushed over. "Stephen!" He called out.

"What is that?!"

Stephen lifted his head from the floor and coughed a few more times, a disgusted look on his face. "The toilet." He stated simply and Arnold shook his head from across the room, and leaned in closer to Thomas who had turned his head back into Connor's knees.

Connor took a few deep inhales, calming himself, and then he turned his head up and wiped a few tears away.

"Alright guys." He said, gaining attention. Stephen and Arnold looked over to him, the former beginning to move himself to sitting up. He had brought his long sleeve to cover his nose to breath through, and he motioned over closer to Connor to him and Arnold could sit closer, and get away from the dreadful smell.

"What is going on?" He whispered out, in a broken voice and Thomas curled in closer. Stephen looked down sadly to the floor, and Connor looked up with pleading eyes, hoping one of them could provide him with an answer.

Stephen just shook his head without making eye contact. Connor turned his gaze to Arnold, who was looking to him with a shocked wide eye expression.

"I-I don't know Connor! What did we do? Have they took _other_ people down here before?!" He whipped his arm back and pointed to the far wall. "It sure seems like it! You can see old locks, and stains.. What is this place!"

"Arnold, calm down.." Connor said carefully.

"No!" The teen shouted back. "And where is _Kevin_! Shouldn't we be worried about him too? I mean, he's all alone! Was he taken too? What happened to my friend!"

"Arnold!" Connor shouted at him. "Stop this! This solves nothing!"

Tears flowed more from the chubby teen's face. "Well yeah what can we do, Connor? Can _you_ get us out of here? No! That's what I thoug-"

"Please stop fighting!"

The voice made both the two boys look over to Stephen, and their frustration at the situation melted away at the sight of their friend.

Stephen had his arms up over his head and was shaking violently. Arnold and Connor both took a look to him, then back at eachother, then Connor gestured with his head to Stephen. Arnold hesitantly lifted an arm up to him.

"Hey Stephen, sorry buddy…" He started, and rested his right hand on Stephen's back, but it caused the boy to flinch so badly and Arnold quickly removed it, then settles his arms into his lap.

"I'm sorry.." Connor said slowly. "I wish I had answers.."

"So do I.." Arnold said slowly. Thomas at this, began to sit up from off of his friend lap, and into his own. He sat on his knees and hung his head over his legs, hair obscuring view of his face. Connor looked at him sadly in the dim light of the room.

"Does anyone know anything?" He asked in disparity. His blue eyes were blood red from all the crying. Arnold shook his head again, and Stephen raised his shakily, arms were curled around his sides. A shook of the head gave Connor his expected answer.

He let silence fall over the group once more. Despite being the proud extrovert of their group, he had nothing to say in the moment. Even Arnold would normally be yelling out some random fact that _no one_ cared about, but he was silent and crying.

Stephen was worried, of course because of their current predicament, but also because none of the others had seen him _panic_ before. They hadn't seen him cry, or during one of his episodes..but they had no idea about that, do they? He began to think to himself anxiety filling his body. _What if they do know, have I not hid it? I am so weak I should not be crying! But they are all crying.._ He peeked a quick glance up to confirm. _Does it matter right now? Of course it does, i have enough to cry about already I should be strong enough here. But, but…_ his thoughts trailed off there, and he closed his eyes taking a huge breath. Worrying about this will not help him now.

Thomas on the other hand's mind was consumed with _why. Why did they take us? Why are we being held here? For how long? How did we even get here? What are they going to do with us? Are they going to kill us? How did this happen? What is going on..what?! Those men were huge! They could easily kill us! They already hit me…_ Thomas took a shaking hand up to his left cheek where he was hit, he winced slightly when the finger made contact. _Will they even feed us? How will we get food? Are we going to starve?_

Next to Thomas was Connor who was more worried about his family. _Are they okay? Oh gosh they are going to be so mad at me especially mom.. Are they worried? Do they know anything? Why does this have to happen, I don't want to worry my parents! My sisters will probably cry when they hear I'm missing… oh no! I hope someone has called the police! Did anybody see us gone? Jeez I hope someone found my phone.. It's probably being bombarded by texts from my parents right now…Mmmm I hope they are okay..._

Arnold was also in thought, and it was rare to see him this quiet, but whenever it concerned his _best friend_ he always took it very seriously. _Oh no! Where's Kevin? Could he have been taken? There wouldn't have been much extra room in our van...not that that would have made a huge difference… i think. Or worse! Could they have killed Kevin? They threatened us what if Kevin did something bad and he was shot? No. I don't want to think about that… Though what if he just stayed in the restaurant and called the police when he saw us all gone? Surely he'd know we wouldn't just ditch him.. Unless he thought it was a prank and is actually really mad at us! Oh buddy I hope you are okay wherever you are._

For the next long while the group remained in an awkward silence, nobody knowing what to say, and how can you make idle chatter in a situation like this? They all knew they would need to talk about the situation soon, but wanted to take time to run it over in their heads to come to terms with what has happens. Because, how to do you come to terms with being _abducted?_ That only happens in movies, and it has happened to them. Each teen was very frightened, frightened of what was going to happen to them, why them, and what the whole context was. The sound of the pipes rattling was all the could be heard, and the dampness of the room began to chill the air, especially with night coming on, if it wasn't already.

After at least an hour, Stephen and Thomas had stopped crying, not to say they weren't sad though. Connor and Arnold still had the odd tear and sniffles. Thomas though had laid down on the ground again, laying his arms out flat, avoiding bending them because of the dull ache that was still pulsing in his shoulders, his light blonde hair flopping to the floor..

That is, until the group heard thumping from up above. Not just casual walking, but heavy steps that circled around them upstairs. Each teen poked up, and turned their head to the ceiling. They heard a door slam from somewhere, and all jumped. The heard what sounded like someone, or more than one person thudding down the stairs, and some voices became more clear.

"Oh my God they are coming down!" Shouted Connor as he moved to be sitting on his knees. Stephen was next to response.

"Connor get the light!" He yelled in a loud whisper. Connor whipped his head back to him and looked frantic.

"What, why? Are you _crazy?_ " He whispered back again. Arnold and Thomas were listening to their exchange worriedly.

"What if they didn't want us to know about the lightswitch or something? Just shut if off for now and we'll see what they do, incase they are coming in!" Stephen commanded back. Connor gave him a weird look, then nodded, and scrambled to his feet and over to the light switch string, dangling from the ceiling. As he glanced to the door, he heard the movement getting closer, so he pulled the string, the room went into complete darkness again, and he threw himself to the floor back to near his friends. The boys all waited anxiously to find out what is going on.

They heard the footsteps stop right outside their door, and one of the men saying something to the other. Then the teens jumped when they heard some sort of metal click, that sounded like a key opening a hatch. The door flung open, allowing brief bright light to penetrate the darkness of the room before it swung shut.

But before it swung shut, someone else was thrown in, and the teens gasped.

 **Hello sorry for the long wait again, I don't really know where I want to take this story! I have a few more chapter ideas planned for ahead but other than that... Anyways! Thanks for reading, and reviews are appreciated!**

 **Also! Let me know why you think the boys were taken : )**


	4. Prisoners

**Your reviews keep me motivated guys! Thank you so much for your kind words!**

 **By the way! Incase I didn't specify, the guys are teens, like, around 16/17 years old? So they are still pretty reliant on their parents for everything, and can have really immature conversations, and are in high school.**

 **Also, please read the note at the bottom :)**

 **Thanks!**

"Shit, Kevin?" Stephen blurted out while standing up, just having pulled the dangling cord from the ceiling turning the light back on. The captors hadn't said anything as they threw the body in and abruptly shut the door plunging them into darkness again.

"Oh my God Kevin!" Connor rang out at the exact same time, and he scrambled from his position next to Thomas, frantically to Kevin's lying form. Arnold gasped, and he was first over to Kevin.

"Buddy are you okay? Speak to me! Kevin! Kevin?!" He shouted at him, picking up his near limp body and shaking him desperately. Connor snorted and ran over to Arnold.

"Jeez!" He yelled out as he hit Arnold on the shoulder. "Don't hurt him! Is he even awake?!"

The three boys stared down at Kevin, Stephen the only one standing. Thomas carefully used his still sore arms to crawl his way over to sit by Kevin's feet. He sniffled all the while and wiped at his puffy face. But then he gasped. It was hard to notice in the dim, stone room light, but he was a mess.

Kevin was _covered_ in blood.

Thomas covered his mouth with his hands. He didn't think Connor or Arnold had noticed yet, but he looked up to Stephen, and they made eye contact. Stephen looked as freaked out as he himself was. He noticed,

"Connor," Thomas stated, his voice cracking, "just look at him." Connor gave him a puzzling glance, turning away from Arnold. He saw a tear slip down Thomas's face, and said boy gestured back with his head to Kevin. "My God he's covered in _blood."_ He drew out the last word in the phrase, eyes going extremely wide.

Connor whipped his head back to Kevin along with Arnold, and Stephen looked away. Now that the two teens actually focused, they saw the crimson red substance that has stained his beige cargo pants and navy turtle-neck. Connor rang a hand over, it feeling the crispy hardened blood stuck to the material. He almost gagged. It covered the teen's face too, giant splatters all over his cheeks and forehead.

"He's dead!" Arnold cried out and screamed. He flew his arms up in the air and almost fell back.

"Arnold-" Connor started.

"Nooo! Buddy!" Arnold wailed and went to grip Kevin's face. Tears began to well in his eyes.

"Arnold!" Connor shouted again. "Stop it! He's not dead!"

Arnold gave him a wicked glare. "What do you _mean_ Connor?! He's _covered_ in blood!" He wailed the last part and threw his head down on Kevin's chest, gripping his shirt material.

"Jesus Arnold he's warm!." Connor stated, then brushed a hand past Kevin's nose. "And he's breathing. I just think he's knocked out." The teen also readjusted Kevin's position in his arms.

"What? He's _not_ dead?" Arnold asked and slowly lifted his tear filled gaze up to Connor's face. He silently nodded, then Arnold also went to test his breathing. "You're right Connor."

"But how do we wake him up?" Thomas in a small voice called out, which made all the others look to where Thomas was at Kevin's feet.

Connor looked to the others with an incredulous expression. "I have no idea."

"What if he's concussed?" Arnold asked out. "Will he wake up then? What if all the blood is from a head wound? There tons of blood on his face-"

Connor cut him off. "Okay, okay Arnold. Let's check him for wounds." The other teen nodded slowly, and they both took Kevin off of their laps and promptly rested him onto the stone floor. Kevin's head rolled limply to the side.

Connor readjusted his position on his knees, and while thinking through what he was about to do, rolled his sleeves up and bent his arms back, rolling out his shoulders. Stephen had now looked over, and took tentative steps forward, then kneeled to Connor's left. Poptarts came up on the other side of their friend's body and kneeled quietly next to Arnold.

"Umm.." Connor let out. He didn't make eye contact with any of them, but the others all looked at him.

Something startled him though just then, causing all the boys to jump up and gasp. Kevin sucked in a huge breath of air and abruptly sat up. He was breathing heavily, and the other teens jumped back giving him(and themselves) some space. Kevin whipped his head around frantically and when he noticed the other people, he scrambled away backwards.

Arnold's eyes went wide. "Kevin!" he yelled out and reached forward to his friend. Kevin didn't react. He sat with his arms on either side balancing him and his chest was moving in and out rapidly with quick breaths and his eyes were wide. His breaths began to sound like wheezes.

"Hey Kevin?" Stephen chirped in softly, and made his way around Connor to sit closer to him. He moved slowly but carefully and Kevin watched him with his eyes.

"Kevin, hey, just calm down. Everything's okay, we aren't gonna... hurt you..." he knelt down next to Kevin and put a light hand on his shoulders.

Kevin studied him with his eyes and with a shake of his head, replied. "G-guys?" He breathed out. His breathy intakes began to quiet down and he came more back into reality.

"Hey, uh, Kevin." Connor replied tentatively. He used his arms to push himself off the stone floor and step closer to his friend. Poptarts and Arnold followed after him.

Connor softly sat down next to Kevin, and Kevin's hard gaze softened when it met Connor's. He just looked so compassionate. Kevin took another deep breath, and let it out slowly, then clutched a hand to his chest.

"Connor? Uh, guys.." He sort of whispered out. He took a very quick glance around the room and his eyes went horrified.

" _Where the hell are we."_ He shot out in a fast, breathy whisper. The others gazed at him in sympathy. No one could say anything that would be _okay_ as an answer.

"Kevin, um.." Arnold began. And Thomas cut in.

"You're covered in blood." Poptarts explained out. Kevin's eyes went wide looking at him, then he lifted his hands and grasped at his shirt tilting his gaze down at it. He brushed his hand overtop and felt the crusted edge of the huge blood soaked spot, he lifted his shaking hand away and turned that palm to his face.

"I..it's not mine." He stuttered out. He was just looking at his hand.

"Um.." Arnold whispered, "Then..uh... who's is it?" He carefully asked and leaned forward watching Kevin. The boys had made a circle around Kevin, all of them with their eyes on him.

Kevin slowly laid his shaking hand down from his face and onto his lap. "Someone was shot." He stated dully.

The other boys sort of gasped, and Connor sadly raised a hand to cover his mouth. Arnold looked horrified and confused.

"Oh.." was all Connor said. And the boys quieted into a sort of awkward silence. _This_ was the situation they were in.

"Kev.." Arnold began, "are they dead?" He hesitantly inquired. Without looking up, Kevin replied.

"Yes." He said it so quietly and it broke, especially Connor's, heart. Someone laid dead somewhere outside where they had eaten. Connor thought about it with a horrified expression, some poor man lying in a pool of blood on the ground _-oh gosh Connor turn it off. Don't do this._

A tear slipped down Thomas's face and he tilted his head down to wipe it away. Stephen's gaze fell sadly to the floor, his eyes drifting out of focus.

"Kevin i'm really sorry." He said quietly, but Kevin didn't reply, he just gave a sort of small prompt nod but remained silent. What was there to say? He had already thought about it a lot, in the car, when he _wasn't_ knocked out. He didn't want to talk about it, really. After a few moments of silence, with an intake of air and puff of the chest, Connor ended up continuing.

"Well, uhm how did it happen?" He asked carefully. "Was anyone else there, could they have called the police, maybe?"

Arnold's gaze lifted up at this, eyes going wide in what seemed like hope. "Yeah," He saw Kevin tense, and he reached an arm out to hold his hand. "Hey, it's okay buddy..."

The boys all looked at him expectedly for an answer, but Kevin didn't say a word. He did though, lift his arms up and curl them around his torso, adjusting his position also to sit cross legged. His head fell down to his chest. He wasn't going to reply. He looked so sad.

Sensing the reluctance in Kevin, him also awkwardly picking at the fluff in his sweater with one of his hands, Connor looked sympathetic and changed the subject.

"Kevin we were so worried for you. While in the van-"

Arnold caught on. "Yeah buddy, I was thinking to myself in the van what you would think of the whole situation, and then it came to me, you weren't even with us!" Arnold cut in, Connor shifted his gaze to him, trying to not care that he was interrupted.

"Mhm, and ah man is it nice to know that you're…Okay" He hesitated on the last word, rethinking what he was saying. Were they okay?

Kevin looked up at this. "You mean you guys were all in the same car?" His bangs fell slightly in his face as he spoke with the small voice.

Connor nodded promptly. "Yeah man, when i ran out that's when they grabbed me and Stephen. "

"Then when Arnold and me left the men came straight at us." Thomas piped in, looking up with his sad gaze but trying to contribute, get his mind off things. Stephen just looked awkward, still sitting with almost unfocused eyes to the floor, but he listened to every word. He has moved a little to rest his back on a nearby steel post jutting from the ground into the ceiling. Thomas shifted his position to be sitting on his knees, he wiped another tear away.

"I tried to run away but he grabbed me." Said Arnold, ending it off in a small voice like a child would when admitting fault. With his right hand Arnold repositioned his glasses frames on his nose.

Kevin worriedly nodded his head. He was shaking a lot more now, and barely registered Connor putting a hand on his knee in comfort.

"I know. The reason I g-got up from the, table..is because I saw Arnold get grabbed by some guy. I ran out and saw a van pulling away, then someone grabbed me from...behind…" He trailed off getting a pang of worry, hoping the others got the cue he didn't want to keep talking. At least Connor did, because he rubbed his knee slightly in comfort. Even that, as a small gesture, really helped Kevin calm down.

"Stephen…" Connor said, turning his head slowly to the boy sitting now to his right. Stephen was still leaning against the thick metal post, with his head leaning back against it. His eyes were half lidded and he had his arms resting crossed over his chest.

"What happened..with you?" He asked sort of awkwardly, not wanting to bring this up but knowing they needed to have this conversation. "I mean, I don't wanna pry but, where were you?"

Thomas looked to his left over at Stephen. He sniffed with his stuffy nose, brought up a hand to wipe it away, then spoke. "Yeah, I had a bad feeling. Did they find you outside?"

Stephen clenched his eyes closed and took a deep breath. "I was home and ready to walk over, to um, meet all you guys…" He trailed off slightly when he noticed everyone had turned their full attention to him. Even Kevin. He sat up a little from leaning against the post and put his hands in his lap.

"There was a van sitting outside the house, and they'd been there a little while. I don't know, I, uh, didn't think much of it cause there's always sketchy stuff happening outside my place." The other boys nodded slightly in understanding, knowing his neighborhood was an established poor, sort of druggie area. No one really liked to go there but it was known for crime.

"There have been shootings, and robberies before. Weird vehicles pull up all the time nearby, but never outside our place. And this one has all the windows blocked, you couldn't see in." He shook his head in memory.

"I don't know, I didn't want to talk to them and some of the guys were out of the car and kept looking around. It seemed really sketchy but they stayed there for a while, then dad told me to get my ass out the door, so I left." His tone took a sort of bitter tone but he tried to cover it. "I tried to hurry past the van down the street but the, uh, van rolled after me. " He started to sound scared and clenched his eyes shot. "Guys, i got so scared.." he admitted in a small voice, and got several glances of sympathy. His mind jolted back to the memory of him eventually getting into a full on sprint down the sidewalk. The men in the van yelling deeply at him. "Long story short, they found me at my house, grabbed me off the street, and took me to the restaurant."

"When we got there one of them told me to run out by the window that's where you saw me..and.. yeah." Stephen ended awkwardly.

"Dude you were gonna walk? But you live so far!" Thomas says incredulously, almost sounding like he ignored everything else Stephen had to say.

Stephen adjusted his sitting position and also sat cross legged like Kevin. "I know but my dad or mom couldn't drive and I had no bus tickets. "

Thomas nodded in understanding and sat back. His thoughts were bitter. _His dad is so mean. That would have been an hour walk and it's dark out. So not fair._

"Anyways, um," He tried to continue on, Stephen. "While in the van the three guys were already there, and they were yelling a lot but in that language, _no idea_ what they were saying... " His voice turned his in the last part of the sentence. It could have been funny if it wasn't so _scary_. "But then they pulled me out of the car, one followed me with a g-gun, and, yeah. That's when they told me to run by the window.."

Connor finally gasped and everyone turned to him. His eye were wide and horrified.

"Oh my god they knew we were there."

"Well yeah, they knew where he lived." Thomas added.

"That could have been an accident." Arnold said.

"You don't park outside someone's house then follow them down the street by accident."

Connor added on, barely listening to the others, thoughts spiraling in on themselves. "They knew where _we all_ were. Do you think they know where we all live?!" He asked in a small panic.

"Freaky.." Thomas mumbles out.

"They must have known where we were sitting too, right? Inside the restaurant? Because it sure as hell worked. Stephen I saw you clear as day outside the window. They planned this." Connor looked incredulous.

Arnold furrowed his brow. "But we could have been seated anywhere though, right Connor? We just happened to be next to a window where we could see out-"

"Someone still must have been there watching us."

Kevin swallowed and began ringing his hands in his lap nervously."I was.. in another car, the two men in my car were still there once your van had left, and was sitting on the other side of the parking lot. They, maybe, could have been the ones watching."

"How the hell would they have known what time we were going to meet for?" Arnold gasped out.

"Shut up and et him finish!" Connor snapped out barely caring he interrupted his friend. Arnold slightly flinched, eyeing Connor from below his bangs, but continued listening.

Kevin gave a slight shake of the head. "No I was done, that's when Connor ran out."

"Okay, " Said boy added and immediately followed up with,"Stephen how is your chest?"

Stephen's eyes went wide and he looked questioningly to Connor.

"Wait," Kevin began, sort of startled at the sudden subject change. "What.. happenned?" His eyebrows furrowed together and he glanced over curiously to Stephen.

"He got kicked." Connor turned to Stephen looking for a response. Stephen looked uncomfortable with the attention now on him again and gave Connor a small glare.

"Don't worry about it." He mumbled and crossed his arms again over his chest.

"Will you let me look at it later?" Thomas perked up slightly, his eyebrows went up in slight concern. "I did first aid in Boy Scouts."

" _You_ did Boy Scouts?" Kevin asked almost jokingly. His slightly judgemental humour coming back to him. He had a small almost playful smirk.

"Yes how do you think I started eating pop tarts, they had loads of those things at lunchtimes there. Entire bowls, and you could take as many as-"

"Yeah you can look at it later." Stephen said and looked down into his lap again. Thomas nodded, somewhat contently and patted Stephen's knee awkwardly. Stephen gave him a sort of unsure nod of appreciation then let his glance fall to the floor.

It seemed they all did, because no one had anything to say and the conversation was left hanging. For some like Stephen and Kevin, the lack of talking burned but the others seemed to be okay and were just _thinking_. After maybe a minute Connor spoke up.

"Do you guys wanna go over what we know?"

Arnold's head jolted up and he mouth an 'oo'. The fact that Connor had snapped at him earlier lost. "Yeah I see them do that in that crime show a lot-"

"Shhhhhhh.." Kevin whispered to him while he was talking to quiet him down. He knew how to deal with his _best friend._

Thomas's brow was furrowed. "Well, they had accents. Where do you think they are from?"

Connor nodded and continued, putting his arms out to his sides to stable himself while he sat. "Somewhere in Africa, Somalia maybe?"

"Doesn't Africa have a lot of really similar accents?" Thomas replied back.

"Hmm, " Connor hummed and looked to floor in thought.

"Well, there are some French speaking countries, so _they'd_ have more of a French accent." Stephen added in. Thomas looked to him.

"But there's guys are _not_ French. We have no idea what they were speaking."

"I wish they were speaking french, I know a bit of french.." Stephen mumbled out barely audible.

"Uhh I don't think we can narrow much stuff down by their accents." Arnold actually added in his high child-like tone. Connor actually nodded in thought to Arnold's statement.

Thomas straightened his back, then slouched again. "Isn't Africa notorious for pirates and stuff?"

"Isn't that a little racist?" Kevin said back.

"I don't give a shit if it's racist we are being held captive by them." Thomas snapped back, and seeing Kevin's reaction, apologized. "Sorry, I didn't mean that.." He continued on. "Maybe they want us for money."

"Who would give them money for _us?"_ Stephenquietly added.

"Maybe the state." Said Kevin.

"Or some gang!" Arnold said with a bit of excitement at the prospect ,before he thought about what he said. Then he realized what that could _really_ mean to them, and he mumbled an 'oh..'

"What would a gang want with _us_?" Stephen repeated in the same tone as his last statement, but this time a little more judgemental.

"We aren't even sure this is a gang!" Connor exhaled out and flung his arms in the air. He huffed and looked flustered.

Thomas began to look worried again. "What would they want with five teenagers?" his voice almost wobbled on the last few words.

"Does it even matter?!" Connor yelled out and threw his arms over his head and tucked his head into his knees. Kevin's eyes went wide and he looked to the others, for a cue in what to do. Thomas shrugged, and looked over to Connor.

"Hey Con. Are you alright?" He tentatively asked, and put a hand on his knee leaning in closer to the redhead. He saw Connor's hair bounce up and down on his legs as a nod, and Thomas rubbed his knee in comfort. He turned to the rest of the group.

"Okay guys., calm down a little. We can't get upset with eachother now."

Arnold vigorously nodded. "Yeah… We all gotta work together if we want to, y'know…."

"Get home." Connor finished Arnold's sentence, and he sat up. "Sorry guys," He took a deep breath and shook out his hands. "This is, just, um.." His eyes fell to the floor.

"Terrible.."Kevin whispered out and slouched down almost pouting. It was such a signature Kevn movement.

"Anyways," Thomas began again. "Their english wasn't too good."

Arnold furrowed his brow. "What do you mean?" He said in absolute confusion. "They _obviously_ spoke it. "

Thomas nodded, "Mhm, but it was broken, almost. Like, it wasn't _perfect_.." He looked down in thought as everyone looked to him for an explanation. He shook his head and waved them off. "Sorry, nevermind I don't know where I was going with that."

"Okay, well.." Continued Kevin, "how old did they all look? I didn't really get a chance to see their faces..." He straightened his back and sat up.

Connor replied immediately, "The one in the back of the car with us, looked the youngest. I'd maybe say early 20s? The others," He paused," I would have to say 30s or 40s. Not sure." Kevin's eyes went a little wide and he gave a small smile.

"You remember well." He commented. Connor gave a prompt nod without making eye contact.

"I try to."

Kevin tilted his head. "Well, do you think they were experienced, maybe? Experienced...kidnappers..." He asked to the group. He opened his mouth to continue but was interrupted.

"I think they would of had to be if they managed to track us down, know _where_ we were, know we were _all_ meeting..y'know?" Stephen quietly replied and Kevin nodded. He began ringing his hands again.

"Okay, then, wait, does anyone have their phone?" He ended it in a whisper.

"No." they all answered out in unison. Kevin sort of shrank back. "Oh. Did they, well, take them?"

Connor shook his head in response. "No, just back luck none of us have 'em. Mine fell of my pocket onto the sidewalk -Oh my gosh!" His thoughts interrupted his speaking, and he threw his arms in the air in exasperation. "My phone is lying on the ground outside the restaurant. Someone can find it!" He shouted out the last bit, sounding hopeful.

Thomas looked sort of dumbfounded. "What good does _that_ do? You don't have your phone."

"No, no.." He answered with a quick motion of the arms. "Someone can find it and know we are missing." This didn't seem to get his point across. Everyone looked at him in confusion. He gave an exasperated sigh.

"Guys, if someone was shot," Kevin winced, but Connor didn't notice. "Then the police must have been called. If the police were called, then they will try to find out who _did_ it."

Thomas interrupted him. "The police should interview everyone on location right?" He asked, picking up a bit of Connor's enthusiasm, getting where he was going. "And, oh Kevin, did anyone see the guy get shot? They could have called in."

Connor continued. "Exactly! And if someone called the police, they will search the crime scene and maybe find my phone! And get proof we are missing. If someone was killed at the same time as some teen boys were kidnapped they'd HAVE to assume there was a correlation" Thomas and Connor both nodded to each other, but Stephen gave them a questioning gaze.

"But wouldn't that be a lucky find? I mean, someone could have come by and picked it up before the police get there." He said aloud. "Granted that's pretty stupid, especially if there's a dead body lying near it, but still."

Kevin nodded. "Yeah. I just don't think we should put all of our hope on that.." He mumbled towards the end. Connor looked a little put off.

"Well, we wanted to go over what we knew." He firmly stated. "That's an idea..or, I don't know. That could have happened."

Kevin sighed and tilted his head. "I did drop my phone too. At least I think I dropped it, the guy could have hit it out of my hand. The, uh.." He vaguely gestured upwards, trying to point to where he thought the captors would be, but frowned. "Are we, um, in a basement?' He ended awkwardly.

Arnold looked at him and nodded, but then turned away sort of pondering.

"Well, we are pretty sure. We had to go down some some stairs and we could hear people walking above us, when they brought you in." Kevin frowned.

"Wait, how do you not know-"

"We were blindfolded." Connor replied. Kevin mouthed an 'oh' and looked down.

"Yeah…" He said awkwardly. Connor then turned behind him and brushed a hand along the dusty stone ground, searching for one of the thin black clothes he knew to be behind him. He saw one a few feet away, so he leaned back far and grasped it with his left hand, then tossed it to Kevin.

Kevin picked it up with two fingers and held it in front of his face, then turned his gaze to the rest of the group in concern, and a bit of disgust. He discarded the blindfold behind him and brushed his hands off.

"One thing I wanted to mention earlier though, did they check you for phones or devices?" He inquired tilting his head. "You think if they didn't want anyone to find us, or to isolate us" He gestured to the dirty room they were in, an put emphasis on each point. "Then they would have checked you for phones."

"Well, we didn't have any." Thomas mumbled.

Kevin sort of scoffed, "Yeah, I know, but you think they would have checked to make sure?"

Stephen's brows went together. "Good point, but what does that mean?"

"Maybe it means that they knew me and Kevin were the only two with phones!" Connor explained out and began to sound scared again. He began biting on one of his fingernails.

Kevin shook his head. "No, no I think that's a little too far. A little too specific." He reached over to Connor but the redhead flinched back.

"What do you mean _too specific?_ Kevin they knew where we lived, and, and when we met up, and-" His eyes were clenched shut. Stephen put a gentle hand on his shoulder and nodded to Kevin to speak.

"Hey, Con, just calm down. You're um , okay.." He said awkwardly, not very good at comforting. He sorta shrugged and Stephen rubbed Connor's shoulder. Connor took deep breath and wiped the small tears forming in his eyes away, and sniffed in.

"Sorry, sorry, continue." He ended in a small voice, looking upset with himself. Kevin tried to not pay it much mind and kept talking.

"Just," He was now little unsure of himself after Connor's point. "I just would think _that's_ a fairly important thing to check for. Phones? To make sure, y'know, your prisoners can't contact anyone... "

Arnold looked sadly down. "I guess that's what we are, huh?" He said.

Kevin turned an unsurely gaze to Arnold. "Hey, what do you mean?" He asked in confusion.

The teen gestured awkwardly with his hands, and began ringing a hand through his small dark curly hair. "Well, just what you said, Kev… prisoners."

"Oh." Kevin lamely replied. His face turned grim for a few moments, as did Thomas's and Stephen's.

"When you put it that way.." Thomas began with his head tilted down under his yellow bangs. Kevin looked towards him.

"It makes it sound _so_ much worse."

Thomas's voice took a heavy tone, which made Kevin's eyes go wide in shock. Poptarts, as they called him, was always so perky! Kevin had never heard him take that tone before, not even when his sister passed. He seemed so distraught, and Kevin wanted it to be his job to cheer everyone up.

"Hey, guys." He said with a brighter tone, and almost a smile. Only Arnold and Stephen looked up at him but Kevin continued. "We are all here, together. Right?" He gestured with his arms, and got a couple teary nods.

"At least we aren't alone..."

To be honest Kevin expected to say more, but what more was there to say? He wanted to say. ' _We can get out of this guys, here's the plan, in the morning this will all be over, everyone will be okay, and we'll be home out of this terrible situation..'_ But he couldn't say that. Because he didn't know if that was true. But he needed to try to stay true to the facts, even though one of his biggest stressors was _not_ being able to control the situation. He couldn't let everyone be so down, they had to stay lively for each other. Kevin knew that. And he took a deep breath.

Connor had lifted his head by this point, once again clearing the tears out of his blue eyes. "You're right, Kevin." He said and sniffed with a smile, which Kevin returned, and Stephen finally took his comforting hand off the redhead's shoulder.

"But Kevin.." Arnold began, and Kevin turned a listening gaze to his friend. "You were alone. In the car."

Kevin furrowed his brow in concern, and memory, and nodded to himself. "I know Arn, but we are together now, right? That's what matters." He didn't want to think about what he saw earlier. The blood, the-

Arnold sniffed and crawled like a child to sit closer to Kevin. Kevin knew what he was doing and moved his left arm to let Arnold in next to him. But instead, his chubby friend went up to him and wrapped him in a hug. Kevin was sort of startled, not being the hugging type himself, but he awkwardly returned the gesture and waited for Arnold to speak.

"I was so worried about you buddy." His voice came through muffled because he spoke into Kevin's shirt through the hug, but Kevin heard every word and held them dearly. He sighed, and felt Arnold quietly weeping into his shirt. He awkwardly patted his buddies' back and whispered to him sadly. "I know Arnold, I know.."

They sat like that for a few moments, and Kevin was going to wait until Arnold released him to continue talking, but that moment didn't come. So Kevin spoke anyways, trying to change the subject.

"Poptarts.." He said quietly overtop of Arnold's bushy hair. Thomas looked up to him.

"What happened to your eye?"

"Oh," Thomas lifted a hand to his puffy face and tapped his cheek, wincing. "One of them hit me." He pouted like a child, and turned his face up to Kevin, letting him see the full view.

His left cheek and eye were puffy purple, and it looked disgusting. The eye itself had yet to be swollen shut, but Kevin feared by morning it may be..-oh my gosh

"It wasn't exactly on the eye but underneath. I don't even want to know how bad it looks." Thomas replied. Kevin nodded to him and looked away, but he had something to say.

"What time is it even?" He asked, the thought of morning coming triggering his thoughts. Arnold, by the way, was still holding onto him.

This made Connor roll his sleeve up and check his watch. The numbers glowed a low red in the dim light of the room. He gasped and pushed his sleeve back down. "It's past 12:30."

"Woaah." Said Thomas as it clicked in in his mind.

Stephen sniffed off to the side. "We've been in here for four hours."

Connor sadly nodded. "Not to mention the two we spent in the car."

"Okay." Kevin lamely added and slouched over, shifting Arnold's weight sort of on his body. Arnold took this as a sort of cue to let go, and as he got up he made eye contact with Kevin. His eyes were puffy and red rimmed, he looked grateful to be with his friend.

Arnold leaned back, and as he did stifled a yawn, "I'm tired guys."

Thomas scoffed. "You could say that again." He brushed the plastered hair off of his face. Everyone was silent for a few moments.

"Do you think we could…" Thomas began. "Sleep?"

This put a pang of worry in all the boys. They all knew they needed sleep, but to be out of it and completely unaware of their surroundings for a ton of hours with those unpredictable men upstairs… the thought was daunting, almost _crazy._ Everyone was thinking the same thing.

 _Would it be safe?_

"Is that safe, though?" Arnold asked speaking everyone's mind.

Connor shrugged his shoulders and looked to all his friends. "I seriously don't know." Everyone seemed to be pondering that question, until Arnold spoke up.

"Hey," he said in a hoarse voice, "what if we do the thing like in the fantasy, or zombie films. Someone stays up as guard and will, and will wake everyone else up if something happens. We can rotate shifts…"

Kevin gave a short laugh at Arnold's antics. He will never change.

"I hope I speak for the group when I say this but," Began Connor. He has a sheepish look on his face. "I think we all need sleep."

"I second that." Thomas said immediately after, with the same guiltyish smile.

Kevin frowned slightly and rang a hand through his hair. "To be quite frank, I don't think I'm going to be falling asleep for a while. I can stay up, while you guys all, y'know drift off..." He sounded uncomfortable.

Connor gave him a small questioning gaze. "Okay, then." But he accepted Kevin's weird tone of voice, and gathered everyone up. "Let's lay down guys- are you sure Kevin?" He glanced at him in concern.

Kevin waved him off with a small smile. "Don't worry about it Connor."

He quickly nodded in reply, and went to stand up, brushing off his light cargo pants and rolling his shoulders. Connor took a deep breath and wiped vigorously at his eyes before he spoke. "Alright. Okay, everyone?" He began and he looked down at the four boys sitting near his feet. "Wake me up if _anything_ happens. If you need to talk, or are scared, or whatever…" Tears began forming in his eyes and his voice cracked. "I'm really scared too." He spoke slowly, but a smile formed on his face. "But we all need to be here for eachother right?"

Thomas vigorously nodded, himself almost crying, and he stood up, walked over to Connor, and gave him a big hug.

"Same goes for me you guys." Thomas said turning away from Connor with a small smile.

Connor gave a grateful laugh. "I love you guys. I can't imagine being here with anyone else." Tears were readily falling down his face, but he looked calmer than before. His shoulders weren't as tense and his body seemed to be less stiff. He still wore his cute, grey-blue wind jacket. Stephen, Kevin, and Arnold who remained sitting on the floor still, nodded up with smiles to Connor as well. His words giving them comfort.

"Well then," He began, and he rolled out his shoulders. "Do you think I could pull down these sheets that are hanging of the walls and use them as pillows?" He asked, gesturing to the adjacent wall.

Along the rock surfaces, other than chips in the stone, ragged cloths were somehow tapered to the walls and fell to the floor. They looked a little dusty, but it's probably better than putting your head directly on the even dirtier stone floor.

No one really replied to Connor, but they traced him with watchful eyes as he took tentative steps over to the wall, and lightly tugged one of the sheets down. He crumbled it up into his hands, and shook it off, turning his head away to not breath in all the dust that fell off. Connor grimaced, but walked back over to the group. Thomas was still standing where he left him, and Connor gave him the first sheet.

"I think it's better than nothing."

Thomas nodded, but still stood there. Stephen, who sat right behind Thomas, stood up to grab his own off the opposite wall. Kevin and Arnold mimicked.

Kevin slowly walked over to one of dangling sheets, and it took him to a corner, where the adjacent wall was the one adorned with all the metal pipes and chains. His breath stopped, he hadn't noticed before. He hadn't even gotten a good look at the room yet. He saw the rusty, dripping pipes with old, even rustier chains linked to them and he swallowed with anxiety.

Maybe this is a lot worse than he thought.

And he thought this was pretty bad.

He changed his line of sight back to the sheet, and tried to ignore, for now, what he just saw. He would ask about it in the morning. He didn't need to bring it up now. That would make it worse.

Kevin tugged on the dark cloth and it fell from its pins(he noticed it was), and shook it off like Connor did. Once he had it, he held it up so it didn't drag across the floor and went to sit by the wall next to the doorway. The _locked_ doorway.

Before Kevin could sit down, Connor spoke up, from his location near one of the columns in the room. He was laying down next to it, the wall sheet folded into a nice, square pillow.

"Guys, just one more thing before we go to sleep." Everyone turned their attention to him.

"I, I'm sorry for leaving this on a sad note but… what about our parents? What do you think they are thinking about right now? Do they even know we were taken?" He looked down with a sad gaze.

Arnold inhaled at this, and Thomas took that solemn look again. Kevin was still standing, and he decided to sit his back up against the wall, facing Connor, then replied with his eyes drifting closed.

"I don't know. But I know we need to get out of here." He stated.

Stephen nodded, almost reluctantly, and took a lay down on the opposite side of the pillar than Connor. Thomas took his sheet and placed it near Connor.

"Hey Con. Don't worry. We will get out of here." He said in a small voice, then laid his head down and closed his eyes. Connor gave a small nod, barely reassured. Then looked to Kevin.

"Are you really gonna stay up a while, Kevin?" Connor asked him. Kevin replied without opening his eyes.

"Yep. You guys can just, go to sleep. I'll be awake."

Connor gave him another small confirming nod and laid his head down on his make-shift pillow. Patting it down a few times to make it comfortable for his head.

"Actually," Stephen began, and made a move to stand up. "Before we sleep. Can I turn the light off?"

Connor's eyes shot open, and he sort of glanced to where Stephen would be without moving his head, barely able to see him in his peripheral vision. "Uhhh…" Connor began.

"I just, I don't want it to die. What if it burns out? This is already a shitty kept room, and it has no window. We don't need the light when we sleep but we can keep it on when we are awake…." He trailed off, hoping the others would see his point. He sounded worried.

Kevin nodded to him and adjusted his sitting position. "That's a really good point. " He mentioned.

"Go ahead and turn it off. We all know where we are?" Thomas asked. "Just be sure, I guess, to make sure you don't trip." He said without opening his eyes, and he curled more up into a ball.

Stephen carefully stood up and made his way over to the dangling light string, taking careful steps, and one arm still wrapped around his sore torse. Kevin watched him get up, then calmly exhaled and shut his eyes again.

"Kevin?" A small voice was heard to his left. Kevin peeped an eye open, and saw Arnold standing, not far off. He had his legs crossed, and his shoulders were up clutching his sheet. Kevin raised an eyebrow, looking Arnold in the face. His eyes were shimmering with unshed tears and he was biting his lip.

"Can I sleep with you?" He whispered. "I mean, next to you. I'm.." he took a pause and shuffled his feet on the floor. "I'm really scared."

Kevin closed his eyes once again and whispered. "Of course." His mouth twitched up in a small smile and he patted to his left for Arnold to come and sit down.

Arnold rushed over, murmuring a thank you, and sat down next to Kevin. He curled his body up, so his head rested on Kevin's outstretched leg, and his body extending perpendicular. Kevin took Arnold's blanket and laid it over his friend. Arnold tried curling his body up even more onto Kevin, and whispered a good night.

"Good night guys." Kevin said aloud to everyone.

Everybody murmured a g'night in response then Kevin took his dusty sheet and flung it out to cover his knees and feet. It didn't provide much, but any warmth he could get could help.

Just then, Stephen had turned the light off, and the room had plunged into darkness. Kevin realised, there was absolutely no light in this room now. Barely even under the crack in the doorway. It was pitch black. He heard Stephen taking cautious steps back over to where he was laying down, and eventually an exhale of breath, probably signifying him shutting his eyes.

The brunette adjusted his position slightly, careful not to budge Arnold who was sleeping on his lap. Arnold, after a few moments, reached a hand up to Kevin clasping his friends hand, and tucking it back under his chin in comfort. Kevin didn't mind holding hands with Arnold, and if it gave the teen any more comfort to be close to him. That was okay. That helps.

Kevin took a sigh. He planned to wait until everyone was asleep.

 **Hey readers. Just a dialogue chapter mainly! I think a lot of the boys seem really ooc in this chapter, and as I write more I'll try to bring out their own personalities more, but for now I'm writing it off as if they are all really overwhelmed and freaked out, it's hard to act their normal selves. Thanks for reading :)**

 **Let me know what you think will happen next!**


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